Love is Child's Play
by Kitty Am I
Summary: "Is that a threat, Barton?" "I think it's more like a promise." Clint/OC
1. And So We Meet Again

**A/N: Am I doing this Author's note thing right? Eh. I guess we'll find out. Anyway, I don't usually write "Heated romance" (i guess you could call this that xD), but this came to me after watching The Avengers in the theatre for the second time xD This is just the first chapter, so don't worry! The second one is coming soon... maybe. We'll see. And speaking of second chapters, I quit writing my hunger games fanfiction for multiple reasons. xD Thanks for reading don't forget to review! :3**

* * *

**Chapter One**

My footsteps echo as I walk into the large quiet room where an agent I don't believe i've met before is standing. She lets off an a confident presence which leads me to believe she's the person i'm looking for.

"Hello there" I say offering her my hand "I'm Scarlette Morgan"

"Ah. Just the person I was waiting for" she says shaking my hand firmly and deliberately "I'm Natasha Romanoff"

"Pleasure to meet you Agent Romanoff" I say, trying to ignore the fact that she's much taller than me. "Anyway, does anyone know why Fury called me here?"

"He only told me I was to meet you here and to wait for further instruction." Agent Romanoff said without a hint of emotion.

"Agent Romanoff, Fury wishes to speak with you." a voice said from behind me. A VERY familiar voice.

I turn around to face him. "Agent Barton long time no see." I say trying my best to stay professional.

"Agent Morgan." he said nodding in my direction with a slight smile I once came to know very well.

"So you've met?" Agent Romanoff asks

"Fury said it was urgent Romanoff" Agent Barton says ignoring her question.

She raises an eyebrow and walks off.

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat drug in" Agent Barton said once agent Romanoff was out of earshot. He put his hands on my waist and started pulling me close to him.

"You aren't looking too bad yourself." I say imitating his sly smile and meeting his steady stare. I'm now so close to him that I can feel his breath on my face. He gently presses his mouth against mine and although the spy in me is telling me to run away, I ignore it and stay there, totally submerged in this moment.

He moves his mouth just barely away from mine. "It's good to have you back Morgan" he whispers, his lips just grazing my ear.

"Glad to be onboard Barton" I whisper back with a slight chuckle. He kisses me again and I close my eyes, never wanting this moment to end.

But of course, it did.

"Agent Morgan, Fury wanted me to..." Agent Romanoff said walking up but then stopped. A look of shock and surprise plastered across her face.

Barton released me and we quickly turned to face away from each other.

"So you do know each other?" Romanoff said, laughing almost... Mechanically.

"Yes" I said blushing "As you can see Agent Barton and I are very..."

"Affectionate?" Agent Romanoff said interrupting me

"Uh, no. I was going to say familiar" I said, starting to get slightly annoyed with her

"But yes." Barton said flashing his signature smile. I quickly elbowed him in the side as my response for that comment. Romanoff just laughed.

"anyway..." I said, trying to ignore the incredibly awkward and embarrassing situation I was in. "What did you say Fury needed me for?"


	2. 16

**A/N: Wow! Two chapters in one day! You guys are special xD Well... us homeschoolers have nothing but time xD Anyway, I'm not really extremely pleased with this chapter, I feel It is a bit sappy, but I believe I did the best I could for a subject this sappy xD Don't worry, kick butt Scarlette will show up soon! **

**Explanation of the chapter title, "16": I enjoy listening to music while I write, and the song "16" by Talain Rayne pretty much inspired the crap out of this chapter xDD so I felt like it deserved some credit and I named my chapter after it!**

**Well, thanks for reading and don't forget to review!**

* * *

**Chapter 2: "16"**

"And that was the grand tour" Natasha says unenthusiastically "here's your room, well it's mine too. The rest of the agents had to share rooms except for me, because I was the only girl. Now you're here."

"yay..." I mutter sarcastically under my breath.

I unlock the door by fingerprint and walk into the tiny tin can furnished with metal bunk beds and two metal dressers. My suitcase was already laying on the top bunk so I started putting my things in the empty dresser.

"So..." Natasha says sitting on her bunk and laying against the wall. "You never told me how you knew Clint"

I climbed to the top and laid down, facing the simple metal ceiling. "It's a long story." I lied.

"I've got nothing but time." She replied with just a hint of her snarky attitude I would soon see more of.

"We were... High school sweethearts" I said hesitantly.

A muffled laugh sounded from under me. "Can someone get me a glass of water?" Natasha said in-between laughs "I think a spit-take is in order here."

With clenched teeth, I continued my story. "Well we weren't your regular sappy high school couple I'll promise you that." I said mimicking her attitude. "We went to neighboring spy academies. We weren't even allowed to know the other existed but obviously we did. We were both orphans. After showing significant potential the orphanage sold us to the academies. We were only 16. I remember the day we drove to the academy, the last time we would see each other." Once I started my flashback, my mind drifted right back to that day, one of the most vivid memories from my past. I paused for what must of been a pretty long period of time because the annoying voice of my roommate snapped me back into reality.

"Morgan? You alive up there?"

"Sorry..." I apologized halfheartedly and continued my story. "He never let go of my hand the whole car ride. I knew it would be harder to accept leaving him if I let it continue until I'm forced to drop it, but I couldn't. He was dropped off first. Driving just down the block in that cold, empty back seat was too painful for me, and I sobbed quietly the entire time."

"So where did it go from there? How on earth did you guys get so disgustingly close if you never saw each other again."

Pleased with her interest in my little tale I continued. "Well, it only took one week for him to sneak onto our campus. I was so happy to see him, but when he left an hour later, it was like he never came in the first place. We decided to meet each night at the stables at my academy. It was bliss. I couldn't imagine what a sad mess I would be without him, and I never thought I'd have to. He's the main reason I became such a great spy. He was my motivation. Because of him I graduated top of my class"

"Then how come you're just now coming to work for SHIELD if you were top of your class?"

"We were caught. I was sent halfway across the globe, and Clint, well he got off with a warning. Unfair punishment but I tried my best to take all the blame. I knew he had potential and I didn't want to hinder his future."

"And that's it? But you haven't seen him in ten years! I still don't understand why you guys were all... You know..."

I laughed lightly and tried to think of an answer "I honestly don't know... that was all him. Not saying I was resisting, but you get the idea." I flip the course gray blanket over my cold body and close my eyes. "I'll be glad to tell you more of my life story later, but right now I think I'll be getting my sleep" I say and then slowly fall asleep.


	3. I've Always Loved You and I Always Will

**A/N: Wow! I can't believe it's the third chapter already! I apologize for the lack of updates. We're remodeling up at my place of employment (Which means extra hours from all the painting I'm doing! Yay! Money!) and it's my sister's birthday! I want to give a huge amount of Thanks to lilybelle101 for following this story, and to The White Princess for favoriting! Also an equally huge amount of thanks goes out to The White Princess and Kiapolo for favortiting my one-shot! I'll try not to let you guys down!**

* * *

**Chapter 3:**

The next morning while I was in the training room, shooting targets with the trusty gun i've used my whole life, Clint, again, walks in on me.

"Morning." He said and then leans against the counter a few feet away from where I'm standing.

I ignore him, and shoot three bullets at the human cardboard cut out, aiming at the heart, and missing only once.

"I was thinking... I ought to teach you how to shoot a bow and arrow. That way you won't be just another pretty girl with a gun." He said smiling.

"Yes because there's so many of us out there." I said rolling my eyes. I was quite disgusted how I giving into his conversation so easily, but the only person I had talked to all day was Natasha, and that doesn't make for a sociable day.

He goes over to his arrow safe and snaps out a nice red toned wooden one, different from the black one I always see him using. "This is the first bow I got when I was at the academy. I named it after you." He said smiling and walking over to me.

"How sweet." I said sarcastically. "You gave a lifeless piece of wood my name." He laughed softly and gently strapped and arm guard over my left fore arm, then stood beside me. He put each of my hands in his and showed me where to hold the bow. His large hands easily covered my small, elfin ones.

I gotta admit. He was being pretty darn cutesy.

"This is the nock." He said using his hands, to use my hands, to point at a little gold bead on the string. "You see the part of the arrow, by the feathers, with the dent." I nodded. "Stick that right under the nock."

"This is the arrow rest." He said, pointing again with my hands, to a little rubber thing sticking out of the caved in area at the front of the bow. "You rest the tip of the arrow on it." He said simply. Something I finally understood. "Now pull the string back with the three fingers under your arrow all the way to the corner of your smile." I pulled the string back and he slowly let go of my hands and back up just a few inches.

"Now all you do, is let go."

I let go of the string and the arrow went flying through the air.

"Great job." He said smiling.

"I didn't even hit the target." I said annoyed that he congratulated me. I told myself I wanted to hear him get angry and frustrated with me, but deep down inside, I knew he had me again.

* * *

Later that evening, after loads of arrow practicing, a few meeting with Fury, and a lot of sarcastic remarks from Tony Stark, I sat in a warm bed... that didn't belong to me. Clint had talked me into watching some TV with him in his room. I was reluctant, but I knew I missed out nights together. I curled up next to him like I always used to, but this time watching a screen instead of a sunset. We were both still wearing our day clothes even though it was now around 1AM.

"I was surprised when I saw you." He said, breaking the silence. "They told me you were dead, not deported."

I thought back to the day we were caught. I had tried to run away, but a few agents who had surrounded us caught me and pinned me to the ground.

"Almost was. My head hit a rock when they pushed me over." I said simply. It was a touchy subject, but he deserved to know so I decided I'd answer his questions. Just this once.

"I tried to help you. They pulled me away. Left you on the ground." He said. Obviously it was a touchy subject for him too.

"I remember. Last thing I saw that night was you being pulled away by those agents."

"You can't remember how you were found?"

"I woke up a few days later in a hospital bed. The nurses told me once I was healthy they were shipping me off to the Kempeitai." I answered, keeping my calm tone, not letting on to how upset I really was.

"The Kempeitai?"

"The Japanese Secret Intelligence Services." I said, still trying to act casual

"They shipped you to Japan..." He said after a sudden realization

"Yes.. But it's fine. I mean, I got to learn how to speak fluent Japanese on the field."

"Say something in Japanese." He said smiling like a second grader.

"Haha, okay... um... Watashi ha itsumo anata o aishi te iru , to watashi ha itsumo daro u." I said

"What's that mean?"

"It means..." I paused. Was I going to tell him the real meaning... "No, I'm not a spy. I'm just your average teenage American Highschooler with a gun."

"You're so cute." He said smiling and stroking my hair.

I smiled back, but felt guilty. Maybe someday i'd tell him what I really said...

_I've always loved you... And I always will..._


	4. Elevator Cat Fight

**A/N: Wow! Another chapter already! I'm so excited to see Scarlette's story progress and I hope that you guys are too! I probably won't be doing daily chapter updated because I'm very busy lately with the nutcracker, my first musical auditions, and The state theatre association conference coming up so I apologize if I don't have another chapter up during this week! I'm soo honored by all this feedback and I really can't believe how many people are actually reading something that I wrote! A special thanks to mushroomking98 and the white princess for reviewing! Thanks again, and Please Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 4:**

I sat on the top bunk of The room Natasha and I shared, simply staring at the ceiling. I was trying to sort out my thoughts, but it was no easy task.

_"Why am I resistant to him?" "Am I still angry about what happened 10 years ago?" "He had no right to kiss me like that." "I missed him." "I won't give in to his ploys." "He's a spy too Scarlette." "You love him Scarlette."_

Clint Barton had devised a trap. And for once, I was on the victim side of it.

"Morgan!" Natasha shouted as she burst in through the doors.

"Yes, Romanoff?" I asked sarcastically.

"Emergency meeting on level 4." She said heading back out the door. I hopped of the bed and followed her. "Oh, and watch your tone with me Morgan."

"Why should I? You never watch yours with me." I said raising an eyebrow at her superior aura.

"Because you're the trainee, and I'm the trainer." She said, scanning her hand and opening an elevator I surprisingly never noticed before.

"Is that what you think I am Romanoff?" I asked cracking my knuckles and slipping off the ridiculous heels it had been mandatory I wear. "Because it's be my pleasure to prove you wrong."

The door opened and, of course, The polite and mannerly Steve Rogers walked in. "Afternoon Ladies." he said nodding at each of us. "Blisters?" he asked pointing at my shoes in my hands.

"Sure.." I lied and put the shoes back on. Natasha chuckled and I covertly kicked her in the shin. She held my arms behind my back and pushed me against the wall. Her face was practically red with anger. It matched her hair very nicely.

"Woah... ladies." Steve said trying to separate us.

"Butt out Steve!" I shouted doing a back flip forcing Natasha to lose her grip on my arms. I pulled out my gun and held it to her head. Of course, right then the elevator doors opened again. This time it was the legendary Tony Stark.

"You girls fighting over me again?" Tony said with a smirk which resulted in Natasha prying my gun from my hands and appropriately back-hand slapping Tony with it.

The doors continued opening on each floor. With more and more people flooding in it became nearly impossible to continue our fight but that doesn't mean we did. The whole deal with being a SHIELD agent, is learning to do the impossible.

The last person to enter through the elevator doors, was Clint.

"Natasha! Scarlette! What are you two doing?" He shouted, stopping us dead in our tracks.

I quickly looked around the elevator. Steve was hiding in a corner, obviously never have being in the midst of a cat fight before. Tony was leaning against the wall cheering us on. Bruce Banner had joined our group a few floors up and was now pacing himself back and forth, trying not to let our shouting get to his head. The Demi-God Thor, was talking to Tony, placing bets on who the winner would be, like we were pit bulls in a dog fight or something, and in the middle of it all, was a very angry Clint who definitely didn't look like he was going to kiss me again anytime soon. Then of course there was Natasha and me. We both had our guns out, neither of us had our shoes on anymore, and there was a fistful of fiery red hair in my left hand.

I released her arm, and her hair and grabbed my shoes shamefully. I walked over to the opposite corner from Steve and sunk down onto the floor.

"I so called Clint winning." Tony said to Thor. I wanted to go over there and teach him a lesson as well but I just shot him my signature death glare, and then looked back down to the ground.

I wanted Clint to come over and hug me. To comfort me and tell me I was going to be ok, but he was obviously more upset than I realized because for the rest of the ride down, he wouldn't even look at me.

Maybe I should talk to Bruce sometime about anger management.


	5. Just Keep Running While You Can

**A/N: Luckily for you guys, I'm sick. And since I have nothing better to do except for watch old movies (Coneheads or Gremlins anyone?) I decided to write another chapter. I'm very interested in dreams, and a ton of my story and chapter ideas come to me in my dreams, so here's a chapter I dreamt about during my many hours of sleeping on the couch yesterday. Special thanks to all of you guys who keep reviewing, favorting, and following! I'll try to write each of you back who review, but like I said yesterday, I'm very busy. Oh, it's a theatre life for me!**

* * *

**Chapter 5:**

"What was that?" Clint said tautly, pulling me aside after the elevator ride back up from the meeting.

"What was what?" I asked mock innocently.

"What was the whole thing in the elevator with Natasha about?!" He said, annoyed by my sarcasm.

"What? Us ignoring each other?"

"The elevator ride DOWN." He said fuming.

"She called me her trainee" I burst "I'm not a trainee and I'm definitely not anything that belongs to her!"

"She's a superior agent to you! You have to respect that!"

"Superior Agent? She's superior to ME?!" I said matching his now shouting tone. "I don't believe Natasha Romanoff ever worked for two separate government, OPPOSING governments at that, to recover secret documents on a nuclear attack that could destroy the whole planet, all while being in a country where not a single person spoke her language!"

"Maybe not! But she did close an intergalactic space portal, defeat a Demi-God, oh yeah, and kill of a butt load of Alien hostiles who's only life function was to KILL!"

That my friends, was enough for me.

"Well if Natasha Romanoff's so much better, superior, and higher ranked than me, why aren't you all kissy kissy with her instead of this awful, scum, low ranked agent!?" I turned to walk off. I was so over him right now.

"Scarlette!" He shouted and grabbed my arm, spinning me to face him again. "Don't bring our relationship into this."

"Oh? I'm just a play-thing aren't I? Can't be your girlfriend during missions can I? Don't want any attachments on the work fields huh? Well then i'll make this simple for you. Clint Barton don't you ever, even think about..."

He interrupted me by grabbing my shoulders and kissing me. It was amazing, but he had already crossed the line, and I wasn't turning back.

I shoved him away from me and started walking off.

"Scarlette... Wait!" He called after me.

"Clint..." I said turning around. "Just... don't."

I began to run away. I wasn't sure where too, but I was running. I couldn't go back to my room. Natasha was sure to be there. I couldn't go to anyone else's room. The only person on the ship I had ever trusted was Clint. I didn't yet know any secret nooks or crannies to hide in. I knew there had to be some, but I just hadn't found any yet. So I just ran. I ran, and ran, and ran. But no matter how far I ran, I couldn't outrun my problems, instead I just kept running into new ones.

* * *

As a little girl, you could say I was... deformed. My knees didn't exactly do their job the way they were supposed to. It was mostly because of my size. A small, thin, lanky girl with no meat on her bones. At age four I had to have physical therapy to learn how to walk. In elementary school, I was off and often on crutches. By middle school I had to wear knee braces every day. By the time I was orphaned, met Clint, and he started teaching me about his interest in special forces, I decided I'd had enough. He worked with me on running every day. Once a week I would run without the knee braces to see how far I could go before collapsing. It wasn't very far at first, but Clint pushed me, and eventually, by the time we went to the academy, I could run very far, for a very long time, without the braces.

It's been a long time since I've ran that much, and after about the 70th or so mile my knees started giving out on me again.

"Dangit" I muttered, but kept running. The pain became more and more intense, then it started spreading. First to my ankles, then to my hips. My body was telling me to stop, but I hadn't yet outran my problems, and until I did, I was going to keep running.

Then all came falling down. I had just passed Tony's lab. He saw me through the window and waved, giving me a quirky smile. I ignored him, and then collapsed only a few steps later. I couldn't get off the ground. I struggled to sit up straight.

_"Don't fail me now_" I thought, and quickly jumped to my feet. I hit the ground again... and everything went black.

* * *

I woke up in a hospital room. I tried to wiggle my toes. No such luck.

"Crap..." I whispered

"Scarlette! Are you awake?" It was Clint. He had been sitting at the foot of my bed, but now he was kneeled down by my face.

"No. I'm asleep, i just have my eyes open and I'm having a conversation with you." I said giving him a week smile. "I can't move my legs." I then said with a more serious tone.

Clint put his hand on the back of his neck and sighed. "The doctor said you might be uh... temporarily paralyzed from the waist down."

"What did I do..." I muttered sighing.

"Scarlette... I just wanted to say, I'm sorry about yesterday." He said, his gorgeous blue eyes staring straight into my dark brown ones.

"Clint... that was all me. I shouldn't have acted like such a b.. -ad person." I held myself to a lot of strict rules. I love self discipline. Never smoking, drinking, or cursing were a few. I'm not scared of people who do those things, I just hold myself to higher standards than some people do.

He chuckled slightly at my correction. "You're not a bad person. You're absolutely perfect." He kissed the bridge of my nose and sat back down at the foot of the bed. "The nurse said you should get some rest. Me sitting here doesn't bother you does it?"

"Can't feel anything down there anyways." I said closing my eyes. "Clint?" I asked him

"Yes Scarlette?" He asked standing up.

"I still love you."

He sat back down and grabbed my hand, stroking my knuckled with his thumb gently.

"I still love you too."


	6. In which I earn the name, Scar-casm

**A/N: ARE YOU FREAKING HAPPY ELORA?! (xD sorry, I have problems. To all my innocent followers, Elora's a ghost reader, a friend of mine xD She wouldn't stop begging me until I uploaded this chapter -sigh-) I had to have five freaking blood tests done today, so I hope I got this out quick enough for you Elo! **

**Okay so moving on, I can't believe how much support I'm getting for this story I'm practically bouncing off the walls! Thank you to everyone who reviews, favorites, follows, or just reads. I'm so honored that you would spend your precious time on something that was created by the messed up brain of mine xD**

**And for all of you who were wondering how I'm feeling, I am feeling wonderful. Mainly because Shawna uploaded a new video and Tessa uploaded -oh my god- two! EEEP! **

**This is a really long authors note... My bad... **

**I don't usually write stories/chapters with this many time skips, but I tried it out anyway. Tell me what you think! Chapter too long? Too short? Too crappy? I love feedback! **

* * *

After a few days, I regained feeling in my legs. With Clint's help I was up and walking a few days later. The nurses didn't want me walking unless I was training, or it was absolutely nescisary, so for now, I was confined to a wheel chair.

* * *

I rolled up to my empty spot at the meeting table, between Tony and Clint.

"How you feeling, Crippled?" Tony asked me, patting the back of my wheelchair softly.

"Much better, Metal Mouth" I said, patting his back... Not so softly. After the incident, and Tony becoming my "savior" He had actually become one of my best friends... Well I guess one of my two best friends. I had gotten quite used to his constant teasing, and found out we actually had a ton of stuff in common. For example, we were both argumentative, loved sarcasm, and had an interest in science. But this only happened a few days ago, during another one of our arguments.

* * *

"Tony, I know you're a billionaire, but what the crap do you do for a living?! It seems like a lot of nothing to me!"

"well, I invent things, you could say. And I'm kinda the only name in clean energy." he said with a smirk and put his hand on his hip.

"I thought bruce was the science nut here?" I asked sarcastically

"I keep him company." Tony stated.

"well physics, thats quite a boring study of science if I do say." I said copying his tone

"oh so you're a science nut too?" Tony said chuckling.

I shrugged my shoulders and smiled goofily.

"so you study, let me guess, biology? So you can play with baby puppies and kitties all day?"

I gave him my mock evil laugh. "No, actually. I study physiology. More specifically oneirology. The study of dreams, dreaming, and the subconscious."

* * *

My daydream was interrupted by our meeting coming to a start.

"Now before I address the matter at hand, a friend of ours has wished for me to ask a few of our scientists, not naming any names, if they would kindly terminate the study "Do aliens dream?" as it makes him uncomfortable." Fury stated, sitting down at the table with a stack of papers.

Tony and I snickered while Thor glared at us from across the table.

"Next matter at hand, Loki's escaped from his prison hold. Nothing dangerous, they just need us to come over there and stick him back in."

"why can't they get there own people to go over there and do it? Space travel doesn't settle well with my stomach." Tony whined.

"Because you guys are the only things he's scared off." Fury said irritated with Tony's usual sarcastic remarks.

"Wait... We're going to Asgard!" I said excitedly

"yes, and no Agent Morgan. We're going to Asgard, but you are not."

"Wait... What?! You're just going to leave me here?!" I shouted "I'm a part of this team too!"

"We understand that Agent Morgan, but we can't risk shipping you off into space with your injuries."

"I'm not injured! I can walk perfectly fine!" I shouted. There was no way I was going to let them get away with this.

"Then why are you in a wheelchair?" Natasha muttered under her breath.

"Don't push it Romanoff." I growled.

"Anyway, the answer is no Morgan. The doctors don't think you're ready, and frankly, I don't think you're ready either. End of discussion."

I clenched my teeth and spun myself around. "Guess I'm not needed in this discussion, so I might as well leave."

"Scar!" Clint called. It was the first word he had said this whole time.

"You heard him Clint. End of discussion." And with that I rolled off.


	7. No Longer My Fairy Tale

**a/n: Oh my dear readers, I apologize for not getting this out any sooner! I would've posted it yesterday but I was very busy *cough* playing slender *cough* (it's kinda my new obsession) I don't get scared easily. Honestly slender did not scare me, I didn't have nightmares, I just realized that my boyfriend actually is the slender man. (xD it's a long story xDD) Well maybe I should stop distracting you from the content below now... THANKS FOR READING :D **

* * *

**Chapter 7:**

I sit on my bed and cry. It's all I can do. Luckily, due to the doctors not wanting me to climb up and down all the time, I was given my own room. Unfortunately it was one of the empty hospital rooms so I was in a completely different hall than everyone else. That much farther away from him.

There's a knock at my door.

"Who is it?" I ask, jolting upright and straightening out the rat's nest I called my hair.

"It's just me" his smooth voice called from opposite side of the door.

I sit there in silence. Sure I wanted him I come in, but I looked like a mess. Scarlette Morgan's the tough one. I didn't really want him to see me like this. Maybe he'd just go away.

"Scarlette?" he asked. "Is everything okay in there."

"Uh yeah." I said quickly tying back my hair and trying to wipe away the smudged mascara.

"Can I come in?"

"Uh sure." I said with a pause. "let me get the door for you." I said, wanting to show my independence. I hop off the bed and fall straight to the ground. Luckily the rooms are quite small, and Clint had already opened the door, so he caught me before I hit the ground.

"oh yeah... Legs..." I muttered.

He chuckled and helped me onto the bed.

"Scar, Is everything okay?" he asked, sitting next to me.

"No.." I sighed.

"Little princess not used to not getting what she wants huh?" He said laughing, and taking my hands in his.

"I'm not a princess." I said under my breath.

"You're my princess." he said smiling.

"Yeah. A princess with a gun, who fights Japanese nuclear physicists, and is paralyzed from the waste down." I said sarcastically.

"Well maybe you just need to stop living in your fairy tale, and live in mine." He said grabbing my arms gently and pulling me close to him. He slowly moves his mouth closer to mine, but I turn and rest my head on his chest.

"I'm scared, Clint." I whisper to him.

"Why?" He asked gently.

"What if you don't come back. What will happen to me?"

"I don't know, Scar, but that won't happen." he said, rubbing my back lightly.

"You promise, Clint?"

"I promise." He said smiling, and slowly releasing me.

"Clint? What's wrong?" I asked as he stood up and made his way to the door.

"I have to go Scar." He said

"Wait!" I protested

"I'm just going to my room Scarlette. We leave tomorrow." he reassured me.

"Okay." I barely uttered from my lips

He closed the door behind him, and I sat there, unmoving. How long would they be gone? Like, forever? Space travel takes a while right? I laid down and the tears just flowed, but I made no sound.

That morning I woke up early. I took a shower, and french braided my wet hair. I went to my drawers and my hands were drawn to a soft green tee shirt. One that used to belong to a 16-year-old Clint. I quickly put it on, and finished getting ready, then rolled myself out. It was a mere 7:30 in the morning. Once I was out on the deck, the strong winds were making it hard to see. I pulled my sunglasses off my head and rolled over to where the rest of the avengers were.

"Scar-casm!" Tony proclaimed, giving me an awkward hug. Everyone was in their uniforms, and Tony in his... Suit. It didn't sit well with me for some reason. I don't know.

"Ey, metal man!" I grinned cheerily. "So, what's your plan?"

"My plan is to sit on this ship in my pajamas and play slender until I finally find the eighth page, or die for real, but Ol' Fury has other ideas."

"And what are those?" I said laughing, quickly scanning the deck for Clint. He was talking to Natasha.

"Eh, Demi-God's best buddy's hooking us up with a ride. Apparently it's like, lightyears faster."

"Got a time estimate?"

"Five years or more. Depending on how much Loki wants to cooperate."

"Five years..." I mutter.

I roll over to Clint, leaving Tony alone in the middle of a sentence.

"Hey Scar!" Clint said, and hugged my shoulders.

"Clint... Five years..." I say, and stare into his eyes.

"It'll be okay Scarlette." He said smiling and stroking the side of my face.

"Clint! This isn't something you can just..."

"Sh." He said placing a finger to my lips. "I'll miss you Scarlette." He gave me hug and then starting boarding the ship.

"Clint! Wait!" I said rolling myself as far as I could before being actually on the ship. "I'm not living in my fairy tale anymore Barton." I shouted over the high winds and the engine.

"I knew you'd change your mind." Clint shouted from the door of the ship.

"wait!" I shouted again "can you promise me something?"

"anything." he shouted back

"Just promise me.. that you won't come back in a box."

"I promise Scar." he said smiling.

My name had barely left his lips before the door was shut, and I was left, alone, on the deck of a ship, while my only friend and the only love of my entire life flew away for five years. And yet there was only one thing I could think of as I rolled back to my room.

"He didn't even notice I was wearing his shirt!"


	8. Slender Bender

**a/n: Yay! Chapter, what is it now? Eight?! Already?! Wow! I'm dedicating this chapter to my favorite suit-wearing-kinda-creepy-no-face-needs-a-tan-guy, SLENDO! Haha. This came to me while writing the last chapter. Now don't worry, the guys will be back soon, but maybe not for a few chapters. I got a few things for her to do by herself in mind! Thank so much for reading and reviewing! And I leave you with this, "Don't look out the window!" **

* * *

It had been a week now. I wasn't letting myself become depressed. I decided to work on therapy. Now I only needed the wheelchair for emergencies, and I was using crutches to get around.

One day, I was thinking back to when Tony and I would experiment in his lab. Once, he had the cold, and was trying to get me to play Slender with him.

"Come on Scar-casm! It's just a video game! You scared?"

"Please Tony. I'm not scared of a video game. I'm scared of the effects of gaming in general. You're going to decrease your eye sight, and develop other health problems if you sit here and play video games all day." I said superiorly.

"Aw, come on. Its just one game!"

"Whatever. You have fun rotting out your brain. Maybe Bruce will help me with this." I said grabbing my tablet containing our old study that Tony and I had worked on together, before Fury shut it down.

Now I walked into Tony's lab with the full intent of beating the game, which Tony never could.

I sit down in his chair, and fired up his computer. The small black icon reading "Slender: The Eight Pages" Popped up at the bottom of the screen. I put on the headset, and started the game.

"This isn't too bad. In fact it's quite easy. The music is a bit unsettling, but it doesn't bother me that much." I said after I collected my fourth page. I was almost getting bored. I hadn't even seen the legendary "Slender Man" yet.

I walk into what looks like a field of rusted out… tankers? There's got to be ten of them. I see a page on one of them.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no? Okay then?" Then the music changes. It's now a low, growling sound.

"Well this isn't creepy at all…" Sarcasm at it's finest.

I keep walking through the tankers until I see a small building.

"Is this a… bathroom?" I say chuckling. The previously soft, crunchy, footsteps make a hard echoing sound. All of a sudden, I start to hear static, and my screen becomes blurrier. I keep turning corners until…

"OH CRAP! IS THAT?" I fall off my chair. The computer starts making an awful screeching sound, and the profile of a man, with no face appears.

I sit there on the floor until my breathing steadies. "That was quite nerve wracking. But now I'm prepared." I "Click to continue" And play again.

I must've played that game for three days without getting up. I probably would've continued if it wasn't for Agent Maria.

"Scarlette Morgan! What are you doing?" She asked, opening the door to the pitch-black room.

"The light!" I moaned

"Scarlette, this isn't healthy." She said, turning of the computer, and helping me out of my seat. Naturally, I fell back to the ground. All my hard work therapy training was now for nothing.

"I'm sorry." I managed to mutter from my sleep-deprived body as she helped me into my wheelchair.

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to yourself. You've been missing for three days. People started worrying. I'm surprised with you Morgan. You're one of the last agents I would expect this kind of behavior from. We were discussing whether or not to do this, but now I see it's nescisary. Scarlette, we're going to have you take an injury leave."

"But I don't have anywhere to go!" I protested

"Don't worry, we do." She said smiling, and walking off. "Now clean yourself up. We're almost there."


	9. New York, New York

**a/n: Happy late Halloween you guys! I didn't really do anything interesting. I just hung out and my grandparents house and ate candy that they had xD I'm trying to get back to daily updates on weekdays, but I've been really busy, so I apologize. I tried to write you guys an extra long chapter though to make up for it! Also, if you follow me on Polyvore, (my account is actaylor) I post little chapter covers that will give you a hint on when to be expecting the next chapter! Don't forget to review, and I leave you with this, "Don't look out the window!" (I guess that's my catch phrase now xD)**

* * *

**Chapter 9: New York, New York**

I stepped into the bitter cold and looked around me. I was in a concrete jungle. Skyscrapers, pavement, and taxicabs were my new surroundings.

Luckily, Some science physics nerd out there created some nice knee braces for me in alternative to that wheelchair that would've been impossible to navigate through these tiny sidewalks.

"Where are we?' I asked Maria as she hailed a cab.

"New York City" She simply stated.

"Whoa. I've never been to New York." I whispered to myself while we got into the cab.

"Stark tower." Maria said to the driver.

"Stark? As in Tony Stark?" I asked her.

She nodded her head, but then received a phone call. I had so many more questions to ask her. I haven't stepped foot on American soil, uh… concrete in ten years.

When the cab had stopped we were in front of a huge, oddly shaped, skyscraper with the word "Stark" Plastered on it in huge letters.

"Well I wouldn't have expected anything less for a humble man like himself." I said sarcastically, causing Maria to just role her eyes. I was starting to think that ever sense the slender incident she was starting to not like me.

When we stepped into the elevator a loud, British voice greeted us. "Hello there, Agent Maria Hill. Who is your companion?"

"Who is that?" I asked, looking around, but I saw no one.

"I am JARVIS. Personal assistant to Tony Stark." The voice said again.

"He's Tony's AI Butler." Maria noted to me. "This is Agent Scarlette Morgan. She's a friend of Tony's. She's going to be staying with Pepper for a while."

"Wonderful. She's been quite lonely lately. Shall I take you to see her?" JARVIS asked us.

"Yes, please do." Maria said, and the elevator went up, and up, and up, until we were on one of the top floors. The elevator doors opened to a beautiful, spacious room with one wall completely made out of glass. At a desk overlooking the city sat a petite, full figured, woman with sandy blonde hair. That had to be the Pepper Tony was always talking about.

"Oh! Hello Maria!" The woman said standing up and walking over to us. "You must be Scarlette!" She said hugging us. "I'm Pepper," She said with a cheeky smile.

"Yup… I'm Scarlette." I said standing there in her awkward hug.

Pepper offered us some drinks and I politely refused. Maria, Pepper, and I chatted for a while on my arrangements and such, like I was a five-year-old being dropped of at Grandma's. Apparently I was going to live with Pepper until my legs healed completely and the Avengers are back on Earth. Soon, but not soon enough, Maria had to leave. So she did.

"So Scarlette, Maria told me about Clint." Pepper said taking a sip of her coke.

"What's there to tell?" I said brushing her off and staring at the Night sky through what I decided to call "The Amazing Glass Wall of Amazement"

"That you two are like, a thing!" Pepper giggled.

"How can you be in 'A thing' with someone who isn't even currently on planet Earth?" I asked. I felt bad about how I was treating her. She was nice, but I wasn't in the best of moods.

"Come on, girl. I'm in the same position you are. Tony's up there too. I can tell, it pains you to the core."

I had never experienced this before. Having someone who actually knew what I was going through, and who had the perfect words to say to me about it. The tears just started flowing. "I hadn't seen him in ten years! And then this!" I sobbed

"It's okay. It's kind of the theme when you date a superhero." She said rubbing my back.

"How do you cope?" I asked her.

"I remember this, if the good guy always gets the girl in the end, than the girl will always get the good guy." She smiled.

I laughed softly and stood up. "Is it okay if I go to bed now?" I asked her.

"Sure. Up to you. You want me to make breakfast in the morning?"

"Yeah… I haven't had breakfast since the academy… and that was just oatmeal and milk for three years straight…"

"I'll make a feast!" She laughed and I head upstairs.

"Thank you Pepper, for all this. It's amazing. I just… thanks." I said smiling as I head up the stairs and went to my room.

My room had a beautiful balcony. The lights from "the city that never sleeps" illuminated the night sky. With the drapes open, I had an amazing view over New York City. With the drapes closed, it blocked out some of the light, and I could actually sleep. I'm opting for "Sleeping in bright light" tonight. The view was just too spectacular.

* * *

That morning I woke up to the smell of bacon. It's too bad I'm a vegiterrian, but the smell of Pepper's amazing home cooking was about enough to make me switch.

I ran down the stairs in my pajama pants and my sweatshirt, not wanting to wait for breakfast any longer. It's been like, fifteen years, so a few more minutes aren't going to hurt right? Wrong! I wanted it now!

Pepper had all this food set out on a big long table for us. There were eggs, bacon, toast, waffles, pancakes, sausage, hash browns, and even a special blueberry syrup she told me she got herself from Maine.

"Does everything look okay?" Pepper asked, genuinely concerned.

"Pepper Potts, you have done something that no one had been able to do since the day I was put on the planet." I said, running over the table and piling it all on a plate.

"What's that?" She asked me

"Make me change my mind!" I said grabbing bacon by the fistful, well not literally, that would be unsanitary. I did in fact use tongs, but I still probably got as much as my fists could hold.

"Change your mind on what?"

"Well I've been a vegiterian for, twenty years now. Ever since I was orphaned. I don't even remember what meat tastes like."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, do you want me to make something else?" she asked frantically.

"NO!" I shouted, getting up to stop her from getting to the fridge. "If you do, I might explode!" I said laughing. "This stuff is so good, I'm so glad you showed me what I was missing out on!"

"Okay then…" She said sitting down next to me, with only a mug of coffee.

"Aren't you going to eat something?" I asked her.

"Nah, I'm good. I just made this for you!" She said, smiling sweetly.

"Now I feel like a pig." I said setting down my fork.

"That's a complement! I haven't had anyone to cook for lately! I'm just so excited to have someone who will actually eat my food! So thank you!"

"Pepper, no, thank you. If it wasn't for you offering me this place, I'd probably still be holed up in Tony's lab playing slender, eating hot pockets and dry cereal."

She laughed at that, and went to clean up some of the dishes.

"I'm serious!" I said right before taking another delicious bite. You know, maybe New York isn't going to be so bad after all.


	10. Clint Barton is a Dirty Rat!

**a/n: I'm baaack :P Sorry it took forever, but I had a really crappy end of october/start of november. Also, I've been trying to get this chapter uploaded for like, three days, but everytime I do, I get SO CLOSE, and then my internet crashes, or my computer runs out of batteries, or fanfiction decides to just stop for like, three hours. UGH. But my fellow mindgeeks and lewnatics, the day is always once again saved by Shawna and Tessa actually making videos. Their making more regular videos now that they moved into their apartment in canada, and they got a PO BOX! SOO EXCITED TO SEND THEM THINGGS! xDD sorry! Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing, don't forget to follow, and I leave you with this, don't look out the window!**

* * *

**Chapter 10:**

So, It's been a few weeks now. I've kinda gotten back into my "not a socially acceptable human being" rhythm again. I slouch downstairs on the couch watching another "Say Yes to the Dress" rerun in my sweatpants and sweatshirt, unknown that it's about three o'clock in the afternoon.

The door opens, and Pepper walks in, carrying some shopping bags. "Scarlette!" She shouts, dropping the bags and running over to me. She grabs the TV remote and turns it off.

"Get up." She said to me.

"What?" I said looking at her confused.

"Get. Up. I promised Maria I wouldn't let you slip back into nothingness. Get up, go clean yourself up, and then come back down." She said grabbing my hand and pulling me upwards.

"Fine, fine, I'm going." I said holding my hands up submissively.

* * *

I took a shower, got cleaned up, and put some actual clothes on. I walked downstairs for dinner, Pepper wanted to take me to one of her favorite resteraunts.

When I get to the bottom of the stairs, I notice that while I'm wearing a simple red plaid flannel shirt, dark jeans, and cowboy boots, Pepper's wearing a sleek black dress, and red pumps.

"It's a formal restraunt?" I ask shamefully

"I'm sorry, my bad, I probably should've specified that!" She said looking to the ground. "We've got enough time for you to change!"

"But I don't have anything... nice"

"You can borrow something of mine! It's fine, but we've gotta hurry!" she said, rushing me up the stairs.

* * *

And now I'm standing in a crowded, dimly lit room listening to classical music, wearing one of the most uncomfortable things ever. It's not necisarily the clothing itself being uncomfortable, but i was never one to be comfortable in my own skin. I was wearing a sleeveless, white, button-down, ruffly shirt thing tucked into a short, hip-hugging, black skirt that stopped mid thigh. Unfortunately, Pepper and I weren't the same shoe size, so I was wearing my work shoes, the sleek black heels that give me blisters. Fortunately, they were spy shoes, so If i needed to stab someone without leaving a puncture point, rappel down from the building's balcony, or record anything suspicious, I was wearing the right shoes for the job.

We sat down at a table and ordered off of a menu that certainly wasn't in English, and then I realized something.

"That Clint Barton is a dirty rat!" I exclaimed, slamming my menu down on the table.

"Excuse me?" Pepper said, almost choking on her wine.

"He's such a... idiot! I'm such an idiot!" I said rubbing my forehead. "I can't believe I couldn't remember one of my favorite things about our academy curriculum!"

"What's that?"

"Language. I learned over 11 languages in the course of my training. And so did Clint." I was furious. That dirty rat had been playing me this whole time.

"How does that make Clint a dirty rat?"

"He tricked me into telling him something in Japanese. I said something that I wanted to tell him, but didn't want him to know. I thought he wouldn't know what I said, but I remember now, that he did."

"I'm... sorry? I guess? I mean... I've never had to comfort someone for telling someone something in a language they weren't supposed to understand, but did" Pepper tried.

"Tony's arc reactor. You can communicate with him, wherever he is, right?" I said, right as our waiter came. Pepper ordered first, then I.

"Well yeah, but I'm not sure if it works, out of, you know, the milky way" She said lowering her voice at the milky way part.

"It's worth a shot." I said winking and taking a sip of my wine. "Clint's going to regret messing with this girl, because for once, this girl, knows how to fight back."


	11. Tears, blood, and Japanese Threatening

**a/n: Ey peoples! How did you like my previous chapter? Just fabulous huh? xD Jk oh dear, no more dum dums for me, no more. Okay, anyway, thanks for reading SO MUCH I cannot stress how ABSOLUTELY AMAZED, FLABBERGASTED, EXCITED, AND ANY OTHER BIG WORD THAT MEANS REALLY REALLY HAPPY, about how much response I've gotten! I mean 13 followers! 15 reviews! 9 favorites! Not to mention OVER 3,000 views! But come on guys, we can do better! Ammarite? Of course I'm right! I am the writer here! You are my minions! (jk, seriously, halloween candy is the death of me) So now, I am sending you out! Tell all your friends to come check me out, and if they mention you in a review, I'll shout you out, AND give you a special surprise! So yeah! TEELL EVEERYONEE! (Except you Elora. You don't tell anyone. This is our secret. I'm Hannah, you're Lola. Yeaah.) I felt like this chapter was a bit more _dramatic_than the rest, and I tried to make it EXTRA long for you guys! I hope you like it! Oh, and sorry if you got emailed twice about this chapter or something, there was a problem, so I needed to take the chapter down and re-upload it. Anyway, thank you SO MUCH for reading, reviewing, and following, and I leave you with this, don't look out the window!**

* * *

**Chapter 11:**

"Here's Tony's number." Pepper said handing me her phone. I copied down the number into my phone and waited while the phone rang, for nearly an hour, until someone finally picked up.

"Hello?" A very shocked Tony said on the other line. "Who is this, and how did you get this number?"

"Tony! It's me! Scarlette!" I screeched, giving Pepper a thumbs up.

"How did you? But we're in the middle of outer space?" He said, speechless.

"Man, that suit, no matter how weird I thing it is, it sure is amazing!" I said

"Well, I uh, yes. Yes it is." Tony said with the same old arrogance.

"So hows it going up there in space?" I asked him, sitting down on the couch, Pepper listening intently to every word I say.

"It's boring. We're still like, a year and a half away from the stupid planet."

I laughed. "I'm sorry. Anyway, would it be okay if, you know, I talked to Clint?" I started giggling like a school girl. My cover seems to be working.

"Who? Oh you mean birdbrain? Sure. Whatever." Tony said, and I waited for a minute until Clint came on the line.

"Hello?" Hearing his voice for the first time again gave me shivers.

"Clint." I breathed "It's Scarlette."

"Scarlette" I heard him barely utter through the phone. "It's really you?"

"Yeah. It's me."

"I can't believe it," He paused and chuckled. "I miss you so much up here you know?"

"Yeah I miss you too." I sighed and almost felt bad for what I was planning to do next. "Oh Clint, by the way, can I ask you something?"

"Sure Love." He said, I could almost imagine his sweet smile.

"Watashi ha anata o shinjiru koto ga deki nai! Naze anata ha sono you ni watashi ohatasu daro u! Naze anata ha watashi ni watashi ha anata o aishi anata o tsutaerukoto deshi ta shi, sonogo mo, anata ha subete ni sot te sore o shit te i ta nante iwanai de! watashi ha, anata ga daikirai desu! anata ha, kono you na kitanai nezumida Clint Barton! Watashi ha anata o shinjiru koto ga deki nai." I screamed at him.

For those of you that don't speak many foreign languages like I do, rest peacefully knowing that basically I screamed at him for being a dirty rat, who knew the whole time I had told him I loved him, but never told me. And I finished it off perfectly with a, sensitive, guilt-bringing, "I can't believe you"

"Scarlette... I thought you knew the whole time." He said

"Don't play games with me Barton. I should've known that Hawkeye couldn't be trusted." I said angrily.

"Scarlette, don't hang up." He pleaded.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't." I said firmly.

"Watashi ha itsumo anata o aishi te iru to watashi ha tsuneni ishi."

"Clint, I, I gotta go. Pepper wants to talk to Tony." I lied.

"Okay Love, Goodbye." He said sweetly

"Bye." I said.

"I love you Scarlette." He said calmly, like the past thirty minutes or so hadn't even happened.

"I... bye Clint." I said, and hung up.

I just couldn't say it. I may be a special agent, I may be an assassain, I may be a trained spy since age eight, but even I knew, one of the most powerful forces out there is love. It drives people. One of the main reasons people do what they do. It can cause people to commit crimes, or do good deeds, or even kill themselves. If there is one thing in the world that people really shouldn't mess with, it's love.

* * *

"How'd it go?" Pepper asked me.

"Not so great." I sighed

"How come?"

"He won." I simply stated.

"How on EARTH did Clint Barton win THAT argument?" She laughed.

"I told him to give me one good reason why I shouldn't hang up on him, and he gave me a pretty darn good reason." I went over to the couch and sunk down into the comfy seat.

"What reason was that?"

"Watashi ha itsumo anata o aishi te iru to watashi ha tsuneni ishi." I said, but Pepper just rose an eyebrow. "I've always loved you, and I always will. Those were my exact words that night, a few months ago."

She smiled giddily like a normal woman would when told those words. Someone who didn't have feelings pounded out of her as a part of her high school curriculum.

"And then, when I said goodbye, He told me he loved me, but I just, couldn't. I really couldn't." I put my head in my hands and sighed. I came to SHIELD to get rid of all my problems, not to develop all these new ones.

"Why not? Do you not love him?"

"I just don't know anymore."

"Because of the whole Japanese misunderstanding?" She asked.

"Because we're spies! We aren't supposed to be in love, we don't get to settle down and have a normal family, and we don't get the happy ending. We aren't heroes, Pepper, we're assassains." I stood up and started to walk away. "I'm going upstairs. This has been a long day for me."

"Scarlette, you are heroes! You saved all of New York City!" She said, standing up and following me.

"THEY saved New York City. THEY flew to Asgard. THEY are the avengers. THEY are heroes. Not me." I kept walking, not even turning to face her.

"You are a part of the avengers! It's not your fault your knees..."

"It is my fault Pepper! You don't understand! It IS my fault! I was too idiot not to realize when I should've stopped running, and I ruined everything, for everyone."

"Scarlette, you didn't ruin everything for me! You gave me company, and..."

I felt bad that I kept interupting her, but I needed to be alone. "Pepper, thanks for you help, but I just need to be alone right now!" I shouted, starting to take up a faster pace.

"Scarlette, wait, let me help."

"Pepper, I think it's best that you leave me alone. You're going to get hurt." I growled

"Scarlette, please!" She pleaded.

"Pepper! I appreciate the offer, I really do, but I need to be alone!" I clenched my jaw, and finally made it to my room. I ran inside, and locked the door behind me. I leaned my back against the door, and fell to the ground.

"Why?" I asked no one in particular. "Why am I such monster? Why did I chose this? I CHOSE this for myself. SO stupid!" I screamed, and hit the floor with my fist. I sat there, tears streaming down my face. I was no longer angry, but heart-broken. "Why would I do this to myself?" I whispered. "Clint... I need you" I sobbed, surprising even myself. "I need him. And now he's gone."


	12. Fair-goer

**a/n: You know what day it is! It's thursday! And Thursday, means MAAAIL! (Any mythical beasts out there? No? Didn't think so?) If you're wondering what that's from, it's from one of the only "Shows" I watch, it's a daily internet talk show called "Good Mythical Morning" by Rhett and Link. It's on youtube. just search "Good Mythical Morning" I promise, it will make your day a thousand times better. Everyday. Man, these authors notes can get really random huh? Sorry... well, this chapter came to me while at the fair with my friend, JustJuliette. thanks for reading, reviewing, and following! Don't look out the window!**

* * *

**Chapter 12:**

It's now been nearly two and a half years since the group left for Asgard. I'm stronger than I ever was, yet I also know now, I really need Clint to get back here. I've only gotten to talk to him once, other than the time I yelled at him in Japanese. You think calling out of the country is expensive? Try calling out of the Galaxy! It's a luxury even Tony Stark didn't want to pay for.

I'm still living with Pepper. My legs completely healed (for the most part) about a year ago. SHIELD gave me the option of going back on their shippy thingy, or staying here with Pepper. I chose Pepper. Not only is she my best (and only) friend, I need her, and she needs me.

My Thirtieth birthday is coming up. Pepper wants to throw me a party, I told her there's no one to invite. She said we could invite all of NYC if I wanted, but I'm not much of a party person. I feel old. It makes me wonder how old Natasha is. Maybe that's why she's so cranky all the time.

* * *

It's around noon time, and I'm just sitting on the balcony, watching the streets below. It's become my new hobby. For some reason it's more acceptable than watching television, also it's on the balcony, so I wouldn't dare go out there for everyone to see unless I was completely cleaned up and stuff.

Pepper walks in. "Hows it going Scarlette?" She asks, coming out on the balcony, and sitting next to me.

"Fine. Not great, not really bad either though. I'm kinda bored honestly." I said

"Ladies and gentleman, Scarlette Morgan, the woman who's bored in NYC!" Pepper said in a mock TV announcer voice.

I laughed at her joke, but sadly, it was true. I'm not much of a shopper, I don't like sitting in crowded dark rooms (even though I do like musicals, I just hate crowded dark rooms.) I'm not a sports fan, or a nature fan. I like being alone, or with one person I trust. I like running science experiments on dreaming, or beating captain america in hand-to-hand combat. There's not much in NYC for someone like me.

"You know what you should do?" Pepper said

"What?" I said, slightly worried about what her answer might be.

"Go to the fair!"

* * *

And now I'm standing in line in front of a ticket booth to get into the fair. I went to the fair alone, Pepper hates the fair, and who else would I bring. I'm starting to regret that. After I pay a whopping thirty dollars, (For one person?!), I walk to the gate, and give the man my ticket.

"Ma'am" The must be 17-year-old boy asked me.

"Yes?" I asked politely.

"Your weapon isn't very concealed." He said pointing to my belt. "And there's a rule about concealed weapons here."

What? Did you think I was going to go anywhere, much less a fair, without my gun?

"Oh... well, I'm going to keep my gun with me." I said, giving him a cheesy smile.

"I don't think you can do that ma'am. Either you go put your gun in the car, and come back, or you leave."

"You know what, here's what I'm going to do," I said digging around in my purse to find something. "I'm going to bring my gun in, and either you're going to let me, or I'm going to call my boss." I paused, and flipped out my fancy S.H.I.E.L.D. badge and waved it around. "And trust me, you don't want me to call my boss."

The boy nodded fearsomely. "Go ahead."

"Thanks." I said with a smirk.

I walk through the crowded streets, constantly getting bumped into by people and bombarded with people asking me to play their games. I know they're all rigged so that it's impossible to win. I find a booth with a few targets, and a plastic gun.

"Hey young lady, only a dollar." A grungy looking man says from behind the counter.

"Why not." I say innocently and hand him a dollar.

He loads up the gun for me and hands it to me. "Just get five bullseyes in a row, and you get a prize." he snickers.

_Now it's time to show those carnies who's boss. _I think to myself, and smile. I shoot five times in a row, never missing.

"oh.. chose any from the top row." he says, slightly frightened.

"What do I gotta do to get that one?" I say, pointing to a giant inflatable iron man.

"Oh? The Iron man?" He thinks for a second, and scratches his unruly beard. "eyes closed."

"Alright, well first, I want that cat, and second, here's my dollar." He hands me the cat, and I set it on the counter. He loads the gun, resets the targets, and stands back.

"no peeking." his now quite irritating little voice squeaks.

I close my eyes, and try to remember exactly the five positions I was in the first time I shot. I finish shooting, open my eyes, and see the grungy man with his mouth hanging wide open.

"how did you? But you... how?" He stammers.

"Let's just say, I practice." I said, putting a hand on my hip. "Now give me Tony." He hands me the iron man and I walk around for a few more hours, eating funnel cake and what not.

I was sitting on a bench, with my giant iron man, and giant pink cat, when a little girl runs up to me.

"I like you cat" She says timidly. "My name's Rosie."

"Hi there Rosie" I said kindly. "My name's Scarlette. Would you like my cat? I don't need it."

She giggled, and picked it up slowly. "Go ahead." I said smiling. She hugged it, and ran off to where a young women was frantically searching for something.

I watched as the young women hugged, than scolded Rosie. Rosie pointed at me, and I looked away as if I weren't watching. The young women smiled at me, and then as I looked up, mouthed the words "Thank you" before being drug in the other direction by Rosie.

It made me very happy, seeing how happy I had made Rosie. I thought about what Pepper said yesterday, about how I was a hero, and I realized, even if I couldn't be a hero to the whole world, I could at least be a hero to one person.

I picked up Giant Tony and lugged him to the car Pepper had loaned me, tossing him in the passenger seat and driving back to Stark Tower.

When I got home, I went up to Tony's lab, took a sharpie and wrote: "Dear Tony, I know how much you love yourself, so this is for you. -Scarlette" on the back of the inflatable iron man's head. I sat it down at Tony's desk, and left. I'm probably going to forget about this thing, but it'll be funny when he finds it!


	13. Be Careful

**a/n: Lucky chapter 13! (yes, I am a swiftie :P) So, I don't know about where you live, but in my town, we do the nutcracker every year, and I'm in it! So, today, instead of asking you to review and such, I would like to ask you to support your local arts! Go see a play! Or a ballet! Or a band concert or something! Us preformers love to, well, preform, and we can't do that without YOU! Our audience! So see what's around in your hometown, and SUPPORT US ARTISTS ;P This is kinda a short chapter, but so far, one of my favorites! Read and review!**

* * *

Chapter 13:

It's been four and a half years since they left. I turned 32 the other day. Pepper and I celebrated the same as always, by eating chinese take out and re-watching "The Patriot." Life has been pretty boring. I started training again. They said the avengers are bound to be here any week now.

* * *

It's late at night, probably midnight or so, I'm sitting in my room when I hear a loud rustling sound. I just got back from training, and my nerves are on fire.

"It's probably just Pepper." I tell myself, but decide to go downstairs anyway.

"Pepper?" I ask as I near the bottom of the stairs. No answer. There's someone on the balcony. It's a man, facing downwards, resting against the railing.

"Who are you?" I ask, but with no reply, so I pull out my gun.

I walk to the door of the balcony, still holding my gun out. "Show yourself!" I shout.

"Hey, Scarlette." The man says, and looks up.

"Jesus Christ, Clint!" I scream, and run into his arms. "What are you doing here?"

"The rest of the avengers are staying with SHIELD, until they officially "announce" their arrival tomorrow, but I had to come see you." He smiled, and stroked my hair.

"Clint, I missed you so much." I said and practically choked him with my death hug. "Come inside, it's cold out."

We went and sat down at the couch. I sat, facing him, but he seemed to be be paying attention elsewhere, out the window or something.

"I wish I could stay here." He said, slightly frowning.

"Of course you can! Pepper's got extra rooms! Please do stay! I missed you!" I said eagerly.

"I can't Scarlette, in fact, this is the last time you'll ever see me." He said somberly.

"What? Clint, what's going on?" I asked.

"I'm going to die." He said, looking out the window again.

"No. Not if I have anything to do with it."

"You don't. There's nothing anybody else can do. The deed has been done." He stood up, and walked over to the balcony.

"Clint, please! Tell me what's going on!" I said desprately.

"It's over Scarlette. Just remember, I love you." He pulled me into his war embrace, and lightly pressed his lips to mine. After only a few seconds, he pulled away. "Goodbye Scarlette." He said, and jumped off the balcony.

"Clint! No!" I screamed "Clint! Please! Don't do this! Clint! Come back!"

* * *

"Scarlette!"

I opened my eyes slowly, and saw Pepper, right in my face.

"Pepper?"

"You were screaming in your sleep. I figured you were having a nightmare."

"He's dead." I said. "He killed himself Pepper!" I screamed.

"Sh, sh, sh, no, he's still alive, Clint's still alive Scarlette. It was just a dream." She said, rubbing my back.

"It was just a dream." I said, trying to calm myself down. "Just a dream."

She smiled, and left me alone. I sat there, and stared out of the window for a bit, before laying back down.

"Please, please be careful Clint" I whispered


	14. Homecoming!

**a/n: How'd you like my messing with you? Be warned, that's my writing style ;) more drama. more screaming. more... death... ENJOY! :P Also, a bit of meeka references for you mindgeeks today ;) RAAAGE! Also, I reserve the right to not be killed after this chapter. Especially by someone who's name starts with R and ends with -hiannon :P Mainly because my readers are going to kill her after this xD Sorry hun!**

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S GONE!?" I scream at Tony, slapping him the face.

"Scarlette, please, calm down." Steve said, resting his hand on my shoulder.

"CALM DOWN STEVE? ARE YOU INSANE?" I screamed again, grabbing Steve's forearm and flipping him on to the ground.

"ow.." he murmmered from down below.

"HOW COULD YOU GUYS BE SUCH IDIOTS?!" I scream at Tony. "YOU LOST HIM ON AN ALIEN PLANET AND JUST DECIDED TO HEAD BACK HOME WITHOUT HIM?!"

I haven't felt rage like this since they told me they were shipping me back to America. But seriously. What idiot leaves their marksman on an alien planet. Apparently Tony Stark.

"I'm... sorry?" Tony said

"Woah, woah, woah, did you just get Tony to say he was sorry?" Natasha butted in. Tony gave her a goofy grin.

"How can you guys make light of this?!" I yelled, not yet calmed down, but no longer screaming.

"Listen, Scarlette, we did all we could do, we didn't want to leave..." Natasha started.

"Natasha. I don't give a crap about what you have to say." I retorted, and stormed off.

* * *

I sat on my balcony, and watched the cars below. There was a knock at my door.

"Ugh. Who is it?" I grumbled.

"It's me, Pepper!" I really, really, high pitched voice said from the other side.

"Knock off the act, Tony." I grouched at him.

"Whatever, sorry, can I come in?" He asked. I could tell he was actually sorry for what had happened, and since I only had him and Pepper now, I gave in.

"Fine." I muttered, and opened the door.

"I really am sorry Scar-casm." He said, peaking a smile.

"It's whatever." I said, crossing my arms across my chest.

"Anyway, Pepper and I were going on a date tonight, and she insisted we bring you."

"That's sweet, but you guys haven't seen each other in five years. You should go alone." I said smiling.

"No, I insist Scar-casm. You're my buddy. I haven't seen you for five years either."

"Okay, fine. I'll go."

* * *

Pepper had dressed me up again, this time in a black knee-length dress with a really fluffy skirt. It was strapless, and the top was cut straight across. It was interesting, but whatever. It had a single white band across the waist, and of course, I wore my black heels.

We walked into the resterant, and surprisingly, it was completely empty. Like, seriously, it was the wait staff, the band, Tony, Pepper, and me. The waiter brings us to a table when all of a sudden...

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

"What..." I said looking around the room of complete strangers, and the rest of the Avengers. "Who's birthday is it?"

"Your's!" Pepper said cheerfully.

"Yeah, two weeks ago." I said, dumbfounded. "Why would you guys do something like this for me, when my birthday was two weeks ago?"

"I needed and excuse to have a party." Tony said, already having a champane glass in his hand.

"How unselfish of you." I said snarkily, but then smiled. It was a bit sweet. Just a bit.

Later at the party, I was hanging out with Captain, and his new girlfriend. Apparently she's Peggy's great niece or something, who looks exactly like her, except more modern and stuff. He just met her this morning. At least she seems nice.

We all sit down at a table, I sit next to Pepper, and Steve's girlfriend, Rhiannon. We're all eating our fancy food, when a sudden smile peaks from Pepper's face, and she tries to not laugh.

"What?" I ask her, when two hands come from behind me and cover my eyes.

"Whoever the crap this is, I suggest taking your hands away, before I flip you on to the table!" I say loudly.

"Guess who." The person says.

I smirk at the sound of his voice.

"I knew there was no way they left you."


	15. Dr Scarlette

**a/n: heh heh. heh heh. sorry. And by the way, rhiannon isn't just a random extra i threw in because she's my friend... she'll be making a reoccurrence soon. wink. wink. Sorry about the short chapter yesterday! I just didn't know where to go with that... and I like dramatic endings ^_^ Most of my chapters are kinda short lately, but I'm trying to stick to the "Daily updates on weekdays" Thing, BUT DON'T HOLD ME TO IT! I'm having trouble holding myself to it. xD I feel like Natasha's been getting a lot of crap in this fanfic, but I wuv her! Also, I got some gallagher girls references in here! Yay! So yeah! Here's this chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 15:**

I'm now back on the stupid ship, against my will. I miss New York, I miss my balcony, I miss watching cars all day, and most of all, I miss Pepper. At least I have Clint back now. I'm the only one though. Tony, obviously, had to leave Pepper, and Captain, after about an hour of tearful goodbyes, (stupid old-fashioned ways) left Rhiannon.

Since my knees are fine now, they're making me room with Natasha again. Oh gee, what fun. You see my sarcasm there? She's been really down lately for some reason though. Well, at least that means she isn't as annoying as usual.

"Scarlette, would you stop that?" She grouched from under me in the middle of another one of our nightly conversations/arguments.

"Stop what? Breathing?" I said.

"Just stop being so sarcastic and snarky. I'm so sick of your attitude."

"I'm sick of you too." I said, resulting in a sharp kick to the mattress beneath me.

I sat down near the edge of my bunk, and flipped over, so I was just hanging so that she could see me.

"Somethings bothering you."

"It's nothing, so mind your own business, Morgan." She grumbled.

"Sure... if it's nothing, than why won't you tell me, _Romanova._" I said, saying the last part proudly.

"How did you?"

"Spy." I said, interrupting her with a smirk.

She glared at me. "Go back to bed, Morgan."

"Natalia Romanova's got a secret she won't tell me!" I said in a sing-song voice, still hanging upside-down.

"If I tell you, will you shut up?" She said through gritted teeth.

"At least to you, for now." I said smirking.

She sighed, and motioned for me to come sit next to her. I flipped of the bed, landing on the ground beside her with a nice thud.

"So, Ms. Romanova, what seems to be the issue?" I said snarkily.

"You and Clint. You're both jerks."

"We've been called worse, or, at least I have." I said chuckling. "That's why I love 'em"

"Well, you weren't stuck in a space ship with him for five years. He's a sarcastic, snarky, prideful, sneaky, jerk. Like you."

"And this bothers you because..."

"He wasn't always that way. When we first starting working together, he was nothing like that. You've changed him."

"_I_ changed him?" I scoffed. "He was always that way with me, I was just on the good side of it. It was a cover, Romanoff." I said, using her "real" name, for seriousness. "He was just pretending."

"What do you mean? He was always so kind, compassionate, forgiving."

"Tasha. It was a cover. Trust me." I said getting angry. She didn't have the right to be complimenting my boyfriend like that. I mean, she did, freedom of speech, but he's mine! And Natasha was definitely attractive, in a non-creepy way. I didn't want to "get with her" but that's not saying Clint doesn't.

"Whatever. I just miss the old him. He was my friend. The new Clint doesn't look like he would've spared my life, like the old Clint did." She scoffed, and I simply rolled my eyes.

"Dr. Phil's going to bed." I said, and climbed back up to my own bed. She rolled her eyes, and turned out the light.

"Oh and Natalia," I said.

"What now, Morgan?"

"You're secret's safe with me." I said with a wink, but she couldn't even see it anyway, so? Whatever.


	16. I'm Not Your Boyfriend

**a/n: wowie. Super short chapters pretty much. I apologize. Longer chapters will be here soon. Maybe. I'm not sure. I'm really liking the short dramatic chapter thing instead of the long, drawn out, slightly not completely interesting the whole time chapters. I tried the double POV thing though to make it longer. Tell me if you like that, if you like short/dramatic/daily chapters better or long/not-as-dramatic/around twice-ish (at least) a week chapters in the reviews!**

* * *

**Chapter 16:**

I'm standing in front of the door to Clint's room.

"Hey Scarlette." He said, opening the door. He wasn't in his uniform, but simply some gray sweatpants, and a soft blue tshirt. For some reason, I found that attractive. It was the middle of the night though...

"Clint, can I talk to you?" I sighed.

"Of course. You can always talk to me, even at..." He stuck his head back inside the room for a minute. "3:57 AM" He laughed, and let me inside. He sat down on his bed, took my hand in his, and sat me down next to him.

"You seem distressed." He said.

"That would be correct."

"What's up?" He asked with a smile.

"I'm worried."

"About what?"

"You. Me. Natasha." I muttered the Natasha part under my breath, hoping he might not hear.

"Why Natasha?"

"Well, we were talking an hour or two ago, and I'm afraid I might've overreacted a bit. But it was keeping me up, and I needed to talk."

"Well, what were you guys talking about?" He said, entering his own "Dr. Phil" mode.

"You..." I mumbled.

"Me?" He asked laughing.

"She said she was annoyed with me because I changed you, and then she started saying all this stuff about how 'nice', and 'sweet', and 'compaionate' you were, and that made me angry."

"Why did that make you angry?"

"Because. I felt, like, territorial, or whatever. I didn't want her hitting on you, because I was afraid you might like her better than me. But I do have a right to feel that way right? I mean, you are my boyfriend and everything!"

"I'm not your boyfriend." He said, with his real attitude peaking through.

"What?" I scoffed.

"I never asked you." He said slyly.

"Well then ask me now."

He laughed. "Oh Scarlette, do you even know me?" I gave him a look. "I like to make things a show." And with that, he stood up, lifted me off the bed, and escorted me to the door.

"See you tomorrow, Clint" I said smirking.

"See you tomorrow, Scarlette." He said, standing in the doorway as I walked off.

"Don't watch me while I walk away!" I called over my shoulder.

"Whatever." He said laughing, and went back inside.

* * *

**Clint's POV:**

I was sitting in my room. Thinking. I was alone. Normally I bunked with Thor, who we left on Asgard for some alien holiday they were celebrating.

It was nice to be on Earth again. It was nice to be back in a normal pace. It was nice to have Scarlette back.

Scarlette. What an amazing creature. The softest, shiniest, mouse brown hair, the prettiest brown eyes, heck, I even practically adored that kick-butt attitude of her's. (although I will admit, I'm probably the only one)

There was a knock at my door. I pulled a shirt on and walked over to open it.

"Hey." she said simply, yet it took my breath away. She wasn't wearing her skin-tight uniform, which I knew she detested, but instead, simple red and white pajama pants, (that hung quite awkwardly on her small frame,) and an oversized gray sweatshirt that practically swallowed her whole. It had slipped off her left shoulder, leaving it bare. Her hair was tied back in a messy bun, and most surprisingly of all, she was wearing glasses. I've known her for twenty-five years almost, and not once have I seen her in glasses. I wanted to ask her about them, but something told me I shouldn't.

"Hey Scarlette." I said smiling.

"Clint, could I talk to you?" She said with a sigh.

"Yes! Please!" My thoughts screamed, but I answered her with a much more calm "Of course. You can always talk to me. Even at," I stuck my head inside to check my clock. "3:57 AM" I smiled. Was it really that late? I took her hand and led her inside. Her hand was as cold as ice. How long had she been out of bed? I sat down, and she sat next to me. Something was bothering her.

"You seem distressed." I eventually said, after staring at the beauty in my arms.

"That would be correct." She said depressingly. Please get happy Scarlette, it's hurting me.

"What's up?" I said like an idiot. I had no idea how to deal with my own problems, much less a woman's.

"I'm worried." She said painfully.

"About what?" I asked her, ready to punch whoever made her feel this way.

"You. Me. Natasha." She mumbled the last part.

"Why Natasha?" I said, letting my actual thoughts be spoken for once.

"Well, we were talking an hour or two ago, and I'm afraid I might've overreacted a bit. But it was keeping me up, and I needed to talk." Scarlette, of course she overreacted. She really needs to work on not getting on Natasha's nerves. Many a SHIELD agents have learned that the hard way.

"What were you guys talking about?" Was I pressing her to much? Is she going to get annoyed that I'm asking all these questions?

"You..." She said resistantly. This made me perk up a bit. Perhaps I was on her mind just as much as she was on mine.

"Me?" I asked her, laughing.

"She said she was annoyed with me because I changed you, and then she started saying all this stuff about how 'nice', and 'sweet', and 'compaionate' you were, and that made me angry." I could tell this pissed her off. I hope she didn't think I liked Tasha. She was my friend, but she was nowhere near Scarlette.

"Why did that make you angry?" I said, knowing I was probably going to get slapped.

"Because. I felt, like, territorial, or whatever. I didn't want her hitting on you, because I was afraid you might like her better than me. But I do have a right to feel that way right? I mean, you are my boyfriend and everything!" She said. Aw. She thought I was her boyfriend. And she was afraid I liked Tasha more than her? Someday I'll prove to her she has nothing to be afraid about, but not right now.

"I'm not your boyfriend." I said, forming a plan in my head, as long as she doesn't freak out and murder me for this.

"What?" She scoffed.

"I never asked you." I said mischievously. Technically that was true, I had never "officially" asked her to be my girlfriend, although I'm pretty sure everybody on this ship considered us an "item." especially after the big "Scarlette's 32nd birthday/the members of the avengers initiative are actually on earth for the first time in four and a half years party" when certain things might have happened but will remain secret, but I had never "officially" asked her to be my girlfriend.

"Well then ask me now!" She said, and I laughed.

"Oh, Scarlette, do you even know me? I like to make things a show." I said with a wink. I stared into her eyes for a mere split-second, and then looked over at the clock. She's only got about an hour left to sleep now. I stood up, took her by the waist, and led her to the door. I wanted to stop everything, kiss her, and never let go, but she needed her rest. Even I know unrested Scarlette is a very, very, dangerous thing.

"See you tomorrow, Barton." she said with a smirk.

"See you tomorrow, Morgan." I said, giving her a smirk of my own. She smiled, and walked off. I sat there in the doorway for a bit, reluctant to go inside.

"Don't watch me while I walk away!" She yelled at me, flashing me a beautiful smile over her shoulder.

"Whatever" I said to her, and went inside.

I laid down, and stared at the ceiling, plotting Part 2 of my genius plan to make sure she NEVER doubts how much I love her again.


	17. The honor, the privilage

**Wowzers guys. Do I have a dramatic next few chapters planned out or what? You guys are going to murder me for them. Like legitimately, hunt me down, find out where I sleep, and murder me. heh heh. Oh well! Happy thanksgiving by the way! You know what I'm thankful for? All TWENTY of my followers :3 You guys are da best 3 I love yah. Special thanks goes out to Rhiannon Pryce, and Mushroomking98 for being my best frands ^_^**

* * *

**Chapter 17:**

Clint had been giving me the cold shoulder all day. How mature.

I sat at a table with Tony, Natasha, Bruce, Steve, and Clint, who was sitting across from me, and not taking his eyes away from mine the entire time. It was lunch time in the break room, and they were all telling me about their "Adventures in Space." But I was too busy communicating with Clint through brain waves. He stared me down the entire time, so I just stared back. Our eyes were locked.

I picked up a french fry off my plate. "Take a picture, It'll last longer." I said to him, and ate it.

He laughed quietly, but didn't stray his eyes.

Everyone was getting up to leave, when Clint finally spoke.

"Hold on everyone, I got something to say." he said, standing on his chair.

"Oh dear God" I muttered under my breath.

"I would like to ask Miss Scarlette Anne Morgan," He used my middle name! How did he know my middle name? "If I could have the honor," he paused. "the privilage," He stared me back down, and stuck out his hand.

I reluctantly placed mine in his, and he slowly brought it to his lips.

"Of having her as my girlfriend." He smiled, and I blushed. Steve looked as if he was about to cry, and Bruce just stood there smiling. Natasha stormed out, and Tony just stood there.

"Yes." I said like an idiot. "Yes Barton, I'll be your girlfriend." He lifted me up to the seat next to him and I wrapped my arms around his neck. He pressed his forehead to mine.

"How was the show?" He chuckled

"Wouldn't have expected less." I smiled, as he pressed his lips to mine. It was simple and sweet, yet short. He hopped down from the chair, lifted me up, and set me on the ground.

"I think I might go do some target practice" he said, entwining my fingers in his.

"I've got an experiment with Bruce I've gotta finish up." I sighed.

He walked me to the lab, and I Kissed his cheek, leaving me honestly wanting more.

"See you tonight." He whispered mock-seductively, barely brushing his lips to my ear.

I laughed at him. "It's a date." I said, lowering my own voice in a joking fashion.

I walked inside the glass door, but Clint stayed, looking through the window.

Every now and then I'd look up, and he'd still be looking through the window, watching me intently.

I walked to the door, opened it, and stuck my head out.

"Ey, Barton! Thought you were going to do some target practice?" I called to him, raising an eyebrow

"Watching you is more interesting." He chuckled.

"Well," I said laughing quietly. "Would you like to come in?"

"Don't mind if I do!" He said flashing me a smile and walking in as I held open the door.

I went right back over to my work station. After much pleading, I had convinced Bruce to work some more on Gamma Radiation with me. We had learned a bit more about "The Other Guy" and Steve, but not enough to help Bruce, or create another captain. So far only about enough information to understand it a bit better.

I stood over a screen and analyzed a bit of data. I had scanned a sample of DNA from Captain with one from Bruce, and the results had just came in.

Clint was standing behind me, looking over my shoulder.

I continued working for a bit, but then looked up. Clint's face wasn't even an inch from mine.

"You're distracting me, Love." I said with a smile.

"I could leave." He suggested.

"No, stay." I grabbed both his hands and held them to my chest, then turned to face him. "Stay." I said again. He spun me around to face the computer, but kept his arms around me, and his body close.

"Scarlette, why don't you go do some target practice." Bruce said from across the lab with a wink.

* * *

Clint was always much taller than me, and I'm already pretty short. I was sitting on a counter at the archery range, just so I could be equal to his height.

"Are we going to do any actual target practice?" I asked him. He held my head with one hand, the other was tucked neatly between mine.

"You tell me." He smirked, taking his hand from mine, gently tilting up my head, and kissing me.

"Clint." I murmured against his lips.

"Is something wrong?" He said, still framing my face with his hands.

"Fury's going to kill us." I said laughing, and he pulled me back in.

"Way ahead of you." The voice boomed from behind Clint, just as our lips met.

Clint quickly released me, and I fell forward onto the floor.

Agent Fury was standing there, looking, well, furious.

"Is this what you two are doing with the time I gave you to train and study?" He shouted.

I sat there on the ground, rubbing my head.

"No sir, this was the first, and last." Clint said, absentmindedly leaving me on the ground.

"Really?" Fury asked, walking towards us, and being enough of a gentleman as to offer his hand and help me up.

"Thanks" I mumbled, and shot Clint a look. He gave me one back that read "sorry" but I ignored it.

Fury continued. "Because agent Romanoff has provided me with information that this was in fact not the first time." He turned his death stare from Clint, to me. "And I think we all know you two are notorious for breaking the rules for _love_ in the past." The way he made the word love sound like a joke made me want to punch him, but I knew that I should probably hold off on that right now.

"I swear Fury, it was the first. After hours, maybe, okay yes, but during training I mean, we haven't even been in the same room most the time! Ask Bruce! Or Tony!" I said starting to panic. I JUST got Clint back. Please don't send me away again.

"We can't afford to knock either of you off the squad, but I'll have you know, if I get the SLIGHTEST suspicion that this "relationship" of yours,"

There he goes with the tone again!

"Is affecting either of your training, I will terminate it." He said sternly. "Is that understood?"

"Yes, Sir." Clint and I said in unison. I was really tempted to break out my impersonations and say "You are the terminator" but something told me Fury wasn't in a joking mood, if he ever was.

"Good. Now get back to training."


	18. New York For Christmas

**Hey guys! Guess what! I've got special news! A CONTEST! That's right! I need you guys to give me your BEST ideas for a super catchy superhero name for Scar. I got nothing. So yeah! Give me as many ideas as you have through the reviews, and I'll pick my favorite! I absolutely adore you guys! Lahve, yah gurl Alyxus ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 18:**

Clint and I were good at sticking to actually training for the next few weeks. Thor had returned, and Natasha seemed to be hanging around our room quite often, so when Clint and I were shooting arrows alone, I'll admit, it was tempting, but the consequences were too great. I couldn't lose him again.

We sat next to each other at our meeting. Every now and then I'd look at him through the corner of my eye and see him doing the same.

"And lastly for today," Fury said "We are nearing New York once again, and a few agents and I decided that the members of the Avengers Initiative, could take a well deserved break, and spend Christmas in New York."

That's right! Christmas is only in a week!

Clint and I walked out of the meeting room side-by-side, our hands occasionally brushing the other's.

"I was thinking I might go stay with Pepper and Tony at Stark tower. I haven't seen Pepper in a while, and neither has Tony, so I doubt they'll get angry if we hold hands." I said, poking fun at Fury and Natasha, who were not so discreetly monitoring Clint and I, wherever we went.

"That sounds like fun." Clint said sweetly, and kissed me on the cheek when we approached my lab.

"See you soon." I smiled, and went inside.

* * *

I held my breath as the final drop of my Gamma Radiation potion I had spent so much time and effort on, fell into a tiny bottle. I walked over to my vault and locked it up.

"Bruce, make sure you write down that just one drop of this stuff is enough. It's incredibly potent." I said to him, and he nodded his head as he finished writing up the experiment to turn into Fury.

"What are we going to do with this stuff?" He asked

"Nothing for now." I said. "We don't fully understand it."

"Why did we do this again?" Bruce chuckled nervously.

"We needed something to turn into Fury, and my dream journals weren't cutting it." I had successfully convinced Bruce, Clint, Tony, Thor, and of course myself, to write down their dreams every morning for a month. Fury said that Tony's dreams were disturbing him, and no one's dreams were providing him with any valuable information.

I finished cleaning up, tied back my hair, and went up on deck. It was incredibly windy, but I often came up her to pass the time.

"Agent Morgan." A plane operator nodded as I examined his plane.

"Call me Scarlette." I said with a smile, extending my hand. He shook it slowly.

"Scott." He smiled.

"Pleasure to meet you Scott." I said, and hopped down from his plane.

"You too, Agent Scarlette." He shouted nervously over the wind. I winked, and went back inside to find Clint.

Often times my looks came to my advantage, buttering up guards not to tell when I sneak off, although in reality, they aren't getting anything in return. I might need a plane someday, hopefully Scott's my guy.

I headed to my room to maybe start packing, Natasha was there, trimming her fingernails on her bed.

"What are you wearing in the parade, Morgan?" She asked, not looking up from her hands.

"What do you mean 'In the parade'" I scoffed.

"The only reason we get to stay in new York, is because Fury worked up some deal for 'earth's mightiest heroes' to be in some Christmas parade. Childhood dream of his, or something."

I rolled my eyes. Fury. What an idiot. I should've expected something like that.

"They don't even know me though. I'm not a super hero, I don't have a cool name."

"Tony'll come up with something. They've already guessed you're with Clint."

"What?"

She tossed me a magazine boasting. "Top Secret Pictures leaked! Hawkeye and 'mystery Avenger' to appear in parade." sure enough, there were pictures of the day we departed new York a few months ago, Clint and I boarding the ship hand in hand, him whispering something to me. Luckily I had my aviators on in all the pictures. There are some people in New York who don't need to know I'm alive.


	19. RIP The Superhero's Girlfriend

**Chapter 19:**

I walked in the door to my only somewhat home, expected to be greeted by a screaming Pepper. The room was empty.

"That's odd." I said to myself. Yeah, we had gotten here kinda late, around 1AM, but I expected Pepper to wait up on us. Oh well.

I headed up the stairs to my old room, Clint was trailing behind me, carrying both of our bags, (he insisted it was more gentlemanly and romantic that way.)

I brought him to the guest bedroom next door to mine.

"Enjoy your stay at Hotel Stark." I said with a wink. "I'll be right next door."

I went in my room and started unpacking. I heard a loud thump, which sounded as if it was coming from Pepper's room, right above mine. Tony had probably just tackled Pepper in a hug or something, but something just didn't seem... right. I was almost certain Pepper would've waited up for us. She usually went to bed around midnight anyway. The tower had seemed so empty, and JARVIS had been rather, quite.

I ran upstairs to Pepper's room, opened the door, and saw Tony, bent over on the ground, sobbing. Tony was not just crying, but sobbing.

"Tony." I said worriedly "What happened?"

He handed me a note.

"Dear Tony and Scarlette," it read "Times have gotten too tough without you here." I bit my lip and read on. "I can't live without the two of you anymore. It pains me. I'm being ambushed by the paparazzi everywhere I go, I'm going crazy from having no one to talk to but Jarvis. There just seems to be no way out." Dear God, please tell me this isn't what I think it is. "If you are reading this note, I succeeded in killing myself." Oh God, not Pepper. "I can't live the life of The Superhero's girlfriend anymore, but I don't think I'd be able to live the life of the Superhero's exgirlfriend either. I love you both. Sorry. Love, Pepper"

I fell to the ground beside Tony, the tears wouldn't stop. Tony was banging the wood floor, shaking the room, causing things to fall off.

"Tony!" I said, trying to grab his shoulders. "Tony please, calm down!" I pleaded. He ignored me. "Tony! Look at me!" I shrieked. He lifted his head up to face me. I had never seen him in such a state of misery, and desperation before. His eyes were red and puffy, and his cheeks were streaked with tears. "There's nothing we can do Tony. " I whispered, biting my tongue to hold back the tears.

"Scarlette, Tony, what's going on?" Clint said, standing in the doorway.

"Clint, Pepper, she, died." I stuttered.

He ran over to me, and held me close.

"I'm sorry Scarlette." He said, stroking my hair, and kissing the top of my head.

"I'm fine, but Tony." I looked over to see him standing on his balcony, looking over the edge.

"Maybe I should end it too." He said to me.

"Tony! No!" I shrieked, and ran to him, hugging him tight.

"You don't understand Scarlette!" He said shrugging me off. "If this were Clint who had committed suicide instead of Pepper, you'd be wanting to end it too!"

"Don't say that Tony. She was my friend. One of my only friends." he looked me in the eyes, he had stopped crying, but he looked like a mess.

"You're all I have left Scarlette." He said quietly.

"I'm here. I'll always be here." I smiled

"You won't. You could be next, Scarlette, if you die, what's going to happen to me?"

"I won't die, Tony" I reassured him.

He muttered a few choice words under his breath,

"Tony." I said, and turned to look at Clint, who was standing there, looking very sorry.

"Can I just be alone?" Tony asked me.

"Are you going to kill yourself?" I asked him sternly.

He sighed, and ran his fingers through his short hair. "No."

"Then of course. See you in the morning." I said with a smile, hugging him close, before taking Clint's hand and shutting the door behind us.

"Are you okay Scarlette? I know how much she meant to you." Clint said awkwardly.

"I'm just worried about Tony. Will you help me keep an eye on him?" I asked as we walked down the stairs and stopped in front of my room.

"Of course." He said, smiling weakly.

"Thanks." I sighed, and quickly kissed him on the lips. "See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow."

* * *

I was awakened by my own screaming. Clint rushed in and kneeled by me.

"Are you okay?" He asked me.

I shook my head no.

He lifted up a hand to wipe a falling tear from my eyes. "Pepper?"

I nodded.

"It'll be okay Scarlette." He stood up, and brushed the hair out of my face. "Do you think you can go back to sleep."

I shrugged

"I'm right next door if you need me." A look of worry was spread across his face. He began to walk to the door.

"Clint." I whispered.

"Yeah?" He asked, turning back.

I lifted up my sheets.

He chuckled, and walked back over to me, sliding under the blanket with me. I curled up next to him, and he draped his arm over me, holding my hand tight.

"Sweet dreams, Scarlette." He whispered, and kissed the top of my head.

"I love you, Clint." I whispered to him.

"I love you, too."


	20. Not Everyone Loves a Parade

**a/n: Hey guys! Sorry if you were wondering why no author's note yesterday on such a big chapter like that, but I've been really not busy, so I pre-wrote a big freaking butt-load of chapters all weekend. Like seriously, I'm in the middle of 27. Sorry xD Anyway, there's been a lot of fluff, and there's going to be more, but there's going to be some serious action... in seven chapters! So yay! Thanks for reading and reviewing, you guys are the bomb!**

* * *

**Chapter 20:**

Today was the day of the parade.

"What if they don't like me!" I whispered nervously to Clint, as we took our seats on a giant float.

"How could anyone not like you?" He asked me, smiling.

"Ask Natasha." I muttered under my breath.

Tony sat on my left, a huge smile plastered on his face that I knew for a fact was fake. Clint sat to my right, he had his arm around me and was smiling and waving in all directions. Natasha, Steve, and Rhiannon (who, dont ask me how, somehow got on the float, breaking security) were sitting near the bottom of the float, and Thor and Bruce sat in the middle.

I heard the loudspeakers boom as we drove by.

"Here come the "Earth's Mightiest Heroes! Returning to us for the first time since they saved our butts, we have the beautiful, Black Widow, America's finest, Captain America, our Alien protector Thor, the incredible Dr. Banner, New York's own, Iron Man, the amazing marksman, hawkeye, and the new, stunning, addition to the group, The Mouse! We can't thank them enough! Catch them later, as we interview them and get to know them all a bit better!"

I smiled and waved. "Clint! Since when we were doing an interview?"

"Not sure. Fury must've not told us. Why do you have your glasses on? It's cold and cloudy out here?" he asked me, as he pretended to shoot an arrow into the crowd.

"I can't do an interview!" I said stressed, even though on the outside I was still waving, smiling, and blowing kisses in every direction.

"Why not? It'll be fun!" He said.

"There are people in New York that it would be best if they don't know that I'm living." I said turning to face him, dropping the happy-smiley act once the cameras disappeared, even though there were still massive amounts of crowds on the street.

"What? Keep smiling, people are looking."

I rolled my eyes. "I'll explain later!"

* * *

"So you are the stunning new addition to The Avengers correct?" The man asked me.

"That's me." I said with a smile, even though my instincts were telling me to run away, destroying all photographic evidence of my face.

"And there are a bit of rumors buzzing around that you and Hawkeye are, an Item" The stupid looking man said, flashing a dumb, blinding smile.

"Let's just say, I'm a lucky guy." Clint said with a wink, kissing me on the cheek.

"Any chances of a super hero marriage coming up soon?" The man said, smiling at the camera.

"Uh... No?" I blurted out.

The man just sat there at stared at me like I had just told him that I wasn't planning on marrying Clint because I was actually his sister or something.

"Well let's bring in our next two heroes." The man said with a more than healthy dose of forced laughter.

"Thanks for having us." Clint said with a nod, and walked out with me.

We made it back to the streets, and we just roamed around aimlessly, occasionally getting stopped and asked if we were Hawkeye and The Mouse. Clint would just smile and say "I'm not sure, you tell me." With a wink and a nod.

"So what, you don't want to marry me?" Clint said, nudging me with his shoulder as we neared Stark Tower, and the privacy of the penthouse.

"I don't know... He caught me off guard. And he said "soon" also, if we were to get married, I wouldn't want to just broadcast it on live tv. Then paparazzi would want to cover it and put it in magazines. I'm not like Tony, I don't like all that fame. I'd rather do something small, and quiet."

"I figured you would." he said smiling, and kissing my top lip gently.

"Hi there!" A woman with a camera around her neck said as we neared the doors to the tower.

"just keep walking." Clint whispered in my ear.

"I'm with the New York times, Are all The Avengers spending Christmas at stark tower?" She said with a sickening smile.

"Tony's letting a few of us stay here for a bit." Clint said nonchalantly.

She started to ask us another question, but Clint and I stepped inside the elevator.

"It was nice talking, goodbye." Clint said kindly, and shut the elevator doors in her face.

"So what were you saying earlier, about why you didn't want to be interviewed." He said, leaning against the walls of the elevator.

"I just, have some enemies in New York." I sighed, raking my fingers through my hair.

"I'll protect you." he said, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me next to him.

"I know you will." I said draping my arms around his neck, and resting my head on his shoulders.

_I just wish you didn't have to._


	21. And The Hawk Fell in Love With The Mouse

**a/n: Hey guys! Chapter 21! Yay! I was inspired for this episode while shopping for some christmas presents and I was like, "Dude. This stuff is so cheesy." and then I just had practically this entire chapter come out of no where xD Also, twilight reference, yes, but only because I feel that it fits Tony's personality well xD Trust me, I don't like twilight xD No hate? xD**

* * *

**Chapter 21:**

Clint's POV:

I scrambled around the mall, being pushed and shoved by a bounty of last-minute shoppers like myself. Call me crazy, but I was seriously starting to doubt the thrill of my profession and take up last minute Christmas shopping instead.

"Tony. Thanks for helping me out." I said, as we headed up an escalator. He just nodded his head. I told Scarlette I was just trying to get him out of the tower, but I truly have no freaking idea what to get Scarlette for Christmas. Which was tomorrow.

"Should we go in here?" I asked him, as we walked by a store that smelled so heavily of perfume it made my eyes water.

"Your girlfriend." Tony said with a shrug.

We walked inside, to be greeted by way too cheerful sales associates.

"Are you men shopping for anyone in particular?" The woman said with a smile.

"My girlfriend." I said. An image of Scarlette immediately came to my head. One of my favorites. The one when she had the flu at the academy. She was a mess, but she still trudged through the snow to the empty barn where we met every night. She Wouldn't even hug me because she didn't want to get me sick.

"Well, let me show you are exclusive line of Dazzle-licious lip sparklers!" She said, dragging me to a huge stand of different colour sparkly lip glosses.

"Tony!" I whispered-shouted as he disappeared into the crowd.

I was contemplating between the "strawberry vanilla swirl dazzle-licious lip sparkler" and the "chocolate glitter mocha dazzle-licious lip sparkler" when Tony just appeared behind me.

"Hate to burst your bubble, but does that look like something Scarlette would want?" He asked me.

"Absolutely not." I said. "The sales associate just said she would."

"Maybe the stereotypical girlfriend would, but this is Scarlette. She's a spy, an assassin, and a scientific genius." Tony said, making me smile. She truly was one of a kind. "Get her something real. Sentimental. Something... Expensive." I could see the real Tony peak through his mourning outer coat for a split second.

* * *

Scarlette's POV:

"My God, I wish Pepper was here." I grumbled scrolling through endless pages of stuff I knew Tony already had.

The searching was endless. What do you get the man who has everything? Don't even get me started on Clint. I hated Christmas!

The door opened. It was Clint.

"Hey, Love" He said, kissing my cheek.

"My God Clint, I give up." I sighed.

He climbed over the back of the couch and sat down next to me.

"Can't find a present for The Tin Can?" He smiled.

"Ugh! I even thought about getting him a can of oil as a joke, but he doesn't really seem in a joking mood right now." I said, running a hand through my hair.

He laughed. "I might have changed that."

The doors burst open and Tony strutted in. "And so the hawk fell in love with the mouse!" He shouted, then frowned. "You guys were supposed to be making out right now or something for emphasis."

"Tony! You're back!" I said giving him a hug. "What gives?"

"I was reintroduced to some old friends." He said with a smile.

"I showed him some diamonds and gold at the mall." Clint said smirking.

"Tony, I'm so happy you're back to your old self!" I smiled.

"Oh, just wait until the Clintlette jokes start. You'll get sick of me again." He winked.

"Really? Shipping names? And Clintlette at that?" I said

"It was either that or Mouseye. Your choice."

"Clintlette it is!" I said laughing, and grabbing Clint's hand.

"Mouseye was my idea." Clint said frowning.

"The general public has been calling you guys that since the parade." Tony said.

"Whatever." Clint grumbled. "The stores are closing in two hours, do you want me to take you to the auto supply store?" He said, smirking.

"Certainly." I said standing up and yanking Clint off the couch with our clasped hands.

"Ow." He whined, and rubbed his shoulder.

"Wimp!" I accused and punched him the other shoulder.

"You see, this is why you don't date an assassin." Clint said to Tony.

"We're cute." I smiled.

"Ugh. Just go already. You guys are going to make me puke." Tony sasses us.

"Just go already!" I mimicked Tony, sticking out my tongue at him.

We went to an auto repair store, bought a can of oil, (can you imagine the look on the cashiers face when The Mouse and Hawkeye were buying a can of oil late Christmas eve?) and got back in a cab.

"Could you take us to the mall?" Clint asked are cab driver.

"Which one?" The cab driver said, not knowing that Clint and I grew up in a small town. One that had one mall.

"Uh... The one closest to Stark Tower." Clint said, and received only a grumble in response from our driver.

"Why are we going to the mall?" I asked him, wanting to be snuggled up on the couch watching an old Christmas movie instead of heading back into the snow and the crowds.

"I forgot to pick up something." He said

When we got to the mall, we went to a simple jewelry store, definitely not the fanciest.

"I had a necklace made for you, It wasn't going to be ready in time when I was still at the mall, so I thought I just bring you with me to pick it up. Merry Christmas." he smiled and took me to a counter.

"Hey Barton. Is this the lucky lady?" The man at the counter said with a wink. He seemed familiar for some reason.

"Scarlette Morgan." I said offering my hand.

"Ah, the mouse." He smiled, kissing my hand. "John Matthews"

"Clint!" I whispered "He knows?"

"Let's just say, for the time being, this isn't your typical jewelry store." John said with a wink, ducking under the counter, and pulling out an emerald green box. He lifted out a delicate silver necklace, with a simple heart hanging on it.

"Try it on Agent Morgan." He said handing it to Clint, who fastened it around my neck. There was a C stamped on the outside, obviously standing for Clint.

"It's beautiful." I smiled at Clint over my shoulder.

"You don't think it's cheesy?" He asked me.

"Absolutely not. It's a communication unit isn't it?" I smirked.

"How'd you guess?" He laughed.

"Spy." I said "Now can you go find something else to do for twenty minutes? I haven't exactly gotten anything for you." I blushed

"I'll go get us some coffees." Clint said kissing my cheek.

"I gotcha covered Agent Morgan." John said with a wink. "Clint picked it out himself. Went ahead and had it made. Said he knew you wouldn't have anything."

"Clint." I laughed, and he handed me a silver bracelet, that matched my necklace. It was a simple silver band, with my name stamped into it. "I'll take it."

"Oh, and Agent Morgan," He said, turning the bracelet to face the inside.

There were some words simply etched into the inside.

"It's written on the back of your necklace as well." He smiled.

"Only Clint." I laughed.

"Well actually, that part was Tony's idea." John laughed, handing me the box right before Clint walked in.

He handed me a coffee. "Did you find what you were looking for." He smiled.

"You messed up on the engraving." I said.

"Did I spell your name wrong? Because I was really, really stressing about that." He said

"No, It's just that the _Mouse_ fell in love with the _Hawk_."


	22. Christmas With The Family

**a/n: This chapter, really, makes me cringe. ugh. I hate it. I know it's short, and it's kinda like a heavy bomb or whatever xD God this chapter. Enjoy. Like, seriously, please, because I've been spending so much time on this fic that I might have to kill myself if it sinks xD -happy thoughts- **

* * *

I woke up to someone tapping on my shoulder.

"Go away." I mumbled.

"Scarlette! Scarlette! Scarlette wake up!" It was Clint. I spun around to face him.

"What do you want Clint?" I asked.

"It's Christmas morning!" He said.

"You're such a child, Clint." I teased.

"Well, then I can't object when Natasha says 'Love is for Children'" He smirked.

"Oh, shut up." I said reaching behind me and throwing a pillow at his face.

"Hey! That's not the Christmas Spirit!" He whined.

"Why'd you wake me up?"

"Tony invited all the Avengers to open presents with us at 9:00"

I looked over at the clock. 8:30. New York was changing me.

"But I don't wanna." I frowned.

"I'll carry you down there if I have to."

"Okay, deal. But put some clothes on. I doubt everyone wants to see you shirtless."

"Fine." He said, walking out the door.

I got out of bed and pulled on some dark jeans and a Black long sleeved short. Clint's necklace was hanging nearby on a hook, so I grabbed it, and put it on.

I sat down on my bed until Clint walked in.

"Carry me!" I said happily.

He picked me up bridal style and carried me down stairs, making sure he hit my feet on the door, and the banister, and some chairs, before abruptly tossing me on the couch.

"Hey! That's not the Christmas Spirit!" I mimicked him.

I sat up, and he came and sat down next to me.

Tony made his way downstairs.

"Merry Christmas Tony" I smiled.

"Yeah. Something like that." Tony mumbled, and sat down in a chair next to us.

"Tony? What's wrong. I thought you were fixed." i said sadly.

"Money can't buy happiness, Scarlette" He frowned.

"Tony admitting something that money can't do?" Clint whispered.

"Sir, your friends have arrived, shall I bring them up?" JARVIS asked.

"Yeah." Tony said.

"Better perk up. You don't want our 'friends' to know you're still sad." I laughed.

"You'll neeeever hear the end of it." Clint smirked.

The first ones to arrive were Captain and Rhiannon, who were arm in arm.

"Merry Christmas Tony, thanks for inviting us." Captain said politely.

Then there was Natasha, then Thor, and lastly Bruce, who refused to stay in the city any longer than nessisary.

"Merry Christmas Santa Stark." Bruce joked.

Tony had gotten random things for everyone, no one got anybody else anything. Everyone admitted they forgot until it was too late.

"Oh not me," I laughed "I didn't forget, I just suck at gifts."

"Agent Morgan, you have a visitor. A very, persistant visitor." JARVIS announced.

I looked at Clint, worried.

"Enemies?" he whispered.

"May I let her in?" JARVIS asked

"Worse." I whispered back.

"Go ahead JARVIS." Tony said. If Agent Morgan has friends here, they should all be included in the fun." He said cheerfully.

"No please don't!" I said standing up, but it was too late. A tall, skinny, tattooed lady with bleach blonde hair who couldn't be any older than her early fifties.

"Oh Scarlette!" She said, struggling to run over to me in her high heels. She embraced me, smelling heavily of a bar. "Oh darling, I haven't seen you in ages."

"Uh huh..." I choked.

"You look gorgeous, you really take after your father!" She exclaimed. _How would you know?_ I thought to myself. "Aw, you've changed so much!"

"You haven't changed at all." I grumbled

"And this must be the boyfriend right?" She said looking to Clint, who smiled weakly. "Well honey, why aren't you introducing me to your friends!"

"This is Clint, Steve, Rhiannon, Natasha, Bruce, and Tony." I said to her reluctantly.

"Guys, this is... My mom."


	23. Is That A Threat, Barton?

**a/n: I'M SO SORRY THAT I FORGOT TO UPDATE FRIDAY! I apologize 1,000 times over, but I'm really, really, stressed out with the nutcracker, and ERMAGAWD I love ballet, I love preforming, but I'm just ready for this to be over. I'm ready to not have prior commitments EVERY saturday, I'm ready to not have knee and toe pain every day of the week, and frankly, I'm ready to have a social life again. I'm almost done writing this fic! There's going to be a total of 30 chapters, so possibly ending in a week and a half! Also, the fluff, it's going to keep coming, but near the end, it's going to almost drop cold, so yeah. Tell me what you think! Every word I receive from my lovelies lights up my day in an instant! Thanks again for reading, and I'll try to keep to my weekday updates :)**

* * *

**Chapter 23:**

Later after everyone had left, my mom was sprawled out on the couch, passed out drunk.

"Scarlette, I thought you were an orphan. I met you at an orphanage when we were kids." Clint said.

I sighed. "My mom met my dad at a bar one night, and then never saw him again. Then I was born. My mom was the lowest scum bag, and I couldn't take it anymore, so I ran away to the orphanage and started going by the last name Morgan. She never even tried to find me. The only reason she probably showed up was to get with Tony or something." Clint made a disgusted face.

"Why did you never tell me this before?" He asked, brushing a strand of hair out of my eyes.

"I didn't want you to think I was anything like her." I sighed.

"Scarlette, I know who you really are. I know you better than I know myself. Nothing you say could ever make me stop loving you." He smiled.

"Clint, there's a lot things you don't know about me." I sighed.

"Then tell me."

"I.. I can't." I sighed again.

"Why not?"

I smiled at him. "You don't have clearance."

"What? That's not possible! How on earth are you ranked higher than me?"

"You think that answer's not classified as well?" I smirked. "What do we do with her?"

"I don't know. Wait until she wakes up and then ask her to leave." he suggested.

"Or we could just throw her off the balcony right now." I said.

"That would kill her."

"Even better."

"The cops would be after us."

"Fury would cover for us."

"You think he would?"

I moaned. "I hate her!"

Tony walked over, tossing me an empty bottle of rum. "Me too." he headed up the stairs. "You two deal with her. If you need me I'll be in my room. Alone." There was so much hurt in his eyes. He needed Pepper.

I sat down on the stairs and closed my eyes. "This is such a mess." I murmured.

Clint sat next to me and held me in his arms. "It's not your fault."

"I know. I just don't know how we get out of this."

"Fury can help." Clint suggested.

"How?"

"I don't know. He'll think of something."

There was a loud shatter from upstairs.

"Oh, God." I gasped, running upstairs, Clint following behind.

"Tony!" Clint shouted banging on his door.

"He's not answering! Try to open it."

"It's locked!"

"Move!" I said, running backwards and kicking the door down with a large snap.

We ran inside, Tony was laying on the ground, surrounded by broken glass.

"Clint." I gasped, lifting Tony up by his back, blood dripping all over my arms "I think it's time we all go home."

"Home? What do you mean by home?" he said, grabbing his legs and helping me carry him out of the room.

"To SHIELD."

We carried Tony down the stairs. "JARVIS, get Director Fury on the phone."

"Certainly, Agent Morgan" The sound of the dialing phone played over the speakers.

"Can't live one freaking week like a normal person." Clint groaned.

I looked into his eyes and smiled. "We're not normal people." He laughed.

"Agent Morgan? Is there an issue?" Fury said.

"Tony's Uh..."

"Suicidal" Clint finished for me.

"Is the ship at the port?" I asked.

"Not... Currently." Fury said hesitantly.

"Well then, where are you. It's an emergency!" Clint and I dumped Tony on the couch. "Go get some towels!" I said and Clint ran off.

"The Uh, Bahamas." Fury said. That... That... moron!

"Well get your butt out of the sand and come help us save your agent's bloody life!" I screamed

Clint returned with a stack of towels and tried to clean up the blood. "Bandages?"

"I'll be right back."

Fury sighed. "He causes us more trouble than any other agent."

"Just get your butt over here." I said furiously.

"We'll be there as soon as Possible Agent Morgan."

"That better be tonight."

* * *

Mom had woken up, and was trying her best to help Clint and I with Tony, who was still unconscious, but at least wasn't dead.

"So, how long have you two been together?" Mom said, sitting at the bar, still hungover.

Clint was finishing taping a few cuts on Tony's head. "What was it Scarlette, 8th grade?" He asked with a smile.

"So two years before the..."

"Boarding school." Clint interrupted, communicating with me by his eyes.

"Yes, and then four years there"

"Then you moved to Japan for ten years," Clint finished with Tony and walked over to me, holding me by the waist, sending a chill down my spine.

"You went to Japan?" She asked.

"They Uh, offered me free tuition." I said, and Clint nodded. Mom didn't exactly know we were "Superheroes" and she can't exactly find out.

"And then we met up in New York again five years ago." Clint smiled.

"So what is that? 11 years?" I asked

"I think so." he said, beaming.

"So where's my grandchildren?" Mom said with cackling laughter.

Clint awkwardly dropped his arm.

"Mom. Do you know how much not having a dad ruined me?" I said seriously.

"You turned out fine!"

"I ran away from home when I was eight!" I shouted. "And you didn't even look for me!"

"I always let you make your own decisions, and if you wanted to live on your own, who was I to stop you?"

"I was eight!" I yelled.

Clint stood there and watched as mom just shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes.

"Get out." I said.

"What?" She said surprised.

"I didn't want you in my life before, and I don't want you in my life now."

"Okay, whatever" she said, slightly hurt. She got up and walked over to the elevator.

"Goodbye Scarlette." She said sadly, and left

"She loves you." Clint said

"No way. Not possible."

"She feels bad, she wants you to love her again." He said

"How would you know?"

"I know the feeling."

"What are you talking about, Clint." I said exhausted. I walked over to the couch opposite to Tony and sat down. Clint came and sat next to me.

"You know I love you, right?" Clint said taking my hands in his.

"Of course. Why would you ask that?" I said.

"Remember that time a month or two ago when you were mad at Natasha because you were afraid I might like her better than you?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"That scared me. I can't live without you. I tried for ten years Scarlette."

"I know the feeling." I smiled.

"I just had to make sure you knew that. I couldn't imagine you thinking I'd leave you for Natasha. She's an amazing friend, but just that."

"I know now." He was too sweet.

"You make me so happy Scarlette." He said and I rested my head on his shoulder. "I've never been more happy in my life than I am right now."

"Me too." I looked up at him.

"But someday, I'm going to be even happier." He said taking one hand and just barely stroking my chin.

"And why is that?" I smiled

"Because someday," He said, pressing his lips to mine for too short of time. "You're going to be my wife."

"Is that a threat, Barton?" I smirked.

"I think it's more like a promise."


	24. Mid-night crisis

**a/n: oh my god. I'm going to die. I have written up to chapter 29, and two chapters for a separate fic, but the note taking app I used to write it all, is glitching, and now, all five chapters, are gone. G. O. N. E. I'm going to die. Frankly, I am going to die. Sorry if after chapter 26 there isn't any more chapters... like ever... I'm not even kidding. This. Freakin. Sucks. I love you guys, and I'm sorry, but I might just have to leave you guys on a major cliff hanger. I just don't COMPLETELY rewrite stuff. -sigh- I put so much time into those five chapters. Kill. Me. Now. And the updates are going to be really, really scarce, this week. I literally have gotten NO sleep because of the nutcracker, and also Scar is based heavily off of me, including her struggles with her knees in her past, so basically, I can barely walk, and we haven't even had grand dress yet -_- I'm trying to update as often as possible, but It's just literally impossible. This chapter is super short... I'm so sorry guys. I really feel like I'm failing you guys. I feel like I'm failing everyone lately. :(**

* * *

Chapter 24:

It was nice to be in a normal relationship while it lasted. Now we were back on the ship, having our every move watched once again. Now that Clint knows my (personal) secret, (There were still a few professional secrets he couldn't know) it was even harder to limit seeing him. Tony was still depressed. I probably would've been too. I feel so bad for him. Everyone is mad at him for making us have to board the ship early. I'm his only friend left. Fury put me in charge of making sure he doesn't try to kill himself again. My mom has tried to contact me a few times, I had JARVIS block her from the system. Captain's been upset lately. It seems everyone's heartbroken and it almost makes me feel guilty that I still have Clint. I've developed insomnia. I tried to self-diagnose myself since this is my science forte, but the only thing I can really come up with is just stress. Surprisingly, only sleeping a few hours each night is actually making me more productive. I've found out a lot of interesting information that the whole team could benefit from, like the fact that Natasha snores, I'm just not sure if I want to die yet.

"Agent Morgan, you're needed immediately." Maria said, bursting through the door.

I hopped out of bed, looked down at my pajamas, and stopped for a moment. "Can I change?" I asked

She shook her head. I moaned and followed her to my lab. The glass door had been shattered.

"Dear Lord..." I gasped, and ran over to my vault.

"Maria! Get Dr. Banner! Now!" I shouted. She nodded and ran out the door. The gamma radiation potion was empty, but the bottle was here.

Bruce ran in. "What happened?" he asked rushing over to me.

"Look for evidence." I said "A suicide note or Tony's dead body would be nice."

"How do you know it was him?"

"Nothing was touched except my vault, which seems to be cut open by a laser. Whoever did this obviously knew what he wanted, and where it was. The only people who know about the potion are you, me, Fury, and Tony. I didn't even tell Clint. Now, out of the people I mentioned, who is A. Not in this room right now, and B. Suicidal?"

"Oh God." Bruce murmured.

"Maria, I need agents searching the ship for Tony's dead and/or radioactive body. Just one drop of that stuff might have created someone more powerful than Loki and Tony drank the whole bottle." I said, she nodded and dashed out of the room.

An agent ran in a few minutes later. "Agent Morgan, Tony is missing and so is his suit."

"I found something!" Bruce said, opening up a file on the desktop.

It was, like I had expected, Tony's suicide note.

"Whoever is actually reading this, I'll be surprised if you actually care. Everyone hates me here. I really am a stuck-up, rich, ego-maniac. Pepper balanced it all out and she's gone. Scarlette's becoming more like my warden than my friend. I screwed up, and there's just no way to fix it. Scarlette said this bottle was dangerous, so I downed it. Hopefully it will kill me. So, bye, I guess."

"God dangit Tony!" I shouted, pounding my fist into the table.

"Agent Morgan, there's something you might want to see." He led me to a monitor. "Security Feed" he told me and I watched as Tony typed the letter and then drank my potion. Then the video went static. "Every camera he passed lost connection." he said standing up and taking me to a window near my lab. "It led us here." the window was completely shattered.

All I could say was "Crap."

"Agent Morgan, the ball is in your court. What do we do now?"

"Tell the Avengers to suit up." I said turning to run to my room. "And tell them not to forget to kiss their mamas goodbye."


	25. Too Bad We're Going to Die

**a/n: meh. so exhausted. haven't written a new chapter in a week -_- updates are going to be scarce guys. nutcracker is exhausting. I'm so tired. Support your thespians people. We work hard. I love Natasha. I hope you guys too. I feel like it's time that Scarlette does as well. I can't stand being her enemy -_-**

* * *

**Chapter 25:**

"Clint! Thor!" I said, bursting through the door.

"Lady Scarlette, what seems to upset you at this late hour?" Thor said sleepily.

"Scarlette? What's going on?" Clint said waking up.

"Tony escaped, and now he's dangerous. I'll explain more later. Suit up, and just so you know, you might not make it out of this one alive." I said, leaving the room with a dash. I ran back to my room, where Natasha was calmly sitting on her bed, already in her uniform.

"This thing sucks." She said squirming in her skin tight cat suit.

"Tell me about it." I said grabbing mine out of my dresser and running to the bathroom.

I walked out, and Natasha was standing there, looking out the window into the hall.

"Hey, Nat." I said.

"What's up Morgan?" She said turning around.

"I just wanted to say, that if my scientific calculations are correct, we probably aren't coming back to this ship. Unless of course, in a box."

She nodded. "Thor, Captain, and Bruce might make it out, but they're practically immortal. You, Clint, and I..."

"We're toast." I said.

She nodded again.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry." I sighed.

She laughed. "You're sorry? For what? I've been on your back since the day you got here. You had a right to hate me."

"No one has a right to hate, Natasha." I smiled.

"Well, I'm sorry. I was jealous."

Now it was my turn to laugh. "You? Jealous of me? Please!"

"Well, you just have a way with sweet-talking practically everyone. And you have Clint." She said smiling.

"You like him?" I asked kindly, not burning with anger anymore.

"Not anymore." She said "We're partners and it would be kinda awkward. I'm just grateful to him."

"For sparing your life?" I asked.

"How'd you find out?"

"Spy." I smiled

"He's wonderful." She smiled

"He is, isn't he?"

She frowned just a bit. "You're lucky."

"I know." I said, beaming. "You know, he said you were his best friend. Well one of them, of course." I chuckled

"You know what, Mousey? I think we can make this partner thing work after all." She said smiling and extending her hand.

I took it and shook it firmly. "You know what Widow? Me too." she laughed, and I laughed, and it was nice to have an actual friend again. And even though I loved Pepper so dearly, it was nice to be friends with someone who actually had something in common with me.

We headed to the weapons chamber, I grabbed two guns, and stuck a dagger in my boot.

"Scarlette." Clint said, tossing me a bow. "You're ready"

We had been working on archery together for a while now, and I was getting pretty good. I strapped the bow across my back, grabbed a sheath of arrows, and ran on deck.

Fury was standing by a plane, waiting for us to arrive.

"What's our orders director?" I asked, as we climbed into the plane.

"Find Tony" He said

"Where do we go from there, sir?" Captain asked.

"Agent Morgan will tell you what to do."

I smiled. I'm in charge huh?

"What if Agent Morgan is, Uh, terminated before we find him?" Bruce asked nervously.

"Agent Morgan won't be terminated." Fury said cracking a smile.

I winked at him. "It's been a pleasure to work for you, Director."

"You'll be back" He said, and the plane took off.

"Where are we going?" Natasha asked our pilot.

"We're following the trail of disconnected security cameras. He's also letting off high radiation so he's quite easy to track. It seems he's heading towards Kansas."

"Why Kansas?" Clint asked

"He's looking for Pepper." I smiled slyly. Tony, that son of a dog.

"I thought Pepper was dead?" Natasha asked.

"She's not dead." I said

"How?!" Clint exclaimed

"She was kidnapped."


	26. Keeping Secrets

**a/n: I'm really sorry guys, I've been so incredibly busy, so that's why you get a saturday update! Also, since I lost a ton of my chapters, the actual writing process is going quite slow as well as the uploading process. Sorry I'm letting you guys down :(**

* * *

**Chapter 26:**

"Why would someone kidnap Pepper!" Captain exclaimed.

"She's Tony's girlfriend. He'd pay alot of money to get her back." I said

"Duh." Natasha said rolling her eyes.

Steve turned bright red. "Times have changed."

"How long have you known?" Clint said.

"Since the moment I read that note. Pepper's too independent. If Tony ever broke up with her she'd slap him in the face and find someone richer to make him jealous. Also, a body was never found"

"There is a human richer than Tony Stark? I must meet this man!" Thor proclaimed.

"Why didn't you tell me, Scarlette?" Clint said, hurt.

"As I said before, there's a lot of things I don't tell you." I said, getting only a frown in response from Clint. "But really, it was because Tony and I weren't having any luck. I was worried we were going to fail, and by keeping it a secret, if we failed, we could file it away, never to reach the surface."

"Why is it so hard? If the person wanted a ransom wouldn't they just waltz up to Tony and say 'Hey! I got Pepper, give me some cash and you can have her back'" Bruce said.

"Ah, but the kidnapper was too smart. If he did that, it would be all over the news, he would get caught by the police, and Pepper would be released. This person decided to keep it a secret, just barely obvious to the paranoid Tony Stark. If Tony finds her, the kidnapper gets cash, if Tony doesn't find her,"

"He gets a woman." Natasha finished without emotion.

"Well then, why on Earth is he looking in Kansas?" Steve exclaimed, obviously dumbfounded at this point.

"Most states resulted as absolute negatives. Kansas was slightly more positive than everywhere else, but not much."

"How did you..." Clint asked

"Hacked into every hometown database, hacked security cameras, looked for similar sightings, any neighbors being suspicious, sudden household guests."

"But it's Christmas! Everyone has household guests!" Steve said

"Exactly. It wasn't easy." I sat down next to Natasha.

"What do we do when we get there?" Natasha asks. "Because I'm pretty positive that he can kill the three of us," Natasha looked over at Clint and me "With one well aimed blast of his suit. Even without being all radioactive and evil."

I thought for a second. "No one leaves the plane until we know exactly where he is. Thor, since you're immortal and all, you're going to go talk to Tony. See if he's evil, or if he'll gladly head back with us. Bruce and I will run some tests, see exactly how powerful he is, and how we might defeat him. Everyone else, waits."

"Sounds fun." Clint said sarcastically.

"Clint, can we talk for a sec." I said starting to get annoyed with his attitude.

Our plane was bigger than a few I had been on while with Shield, it actually had two separate rooms, although they were quite small. I grabbed Clint by the arm and took him into the second room, shutting the door behind me.

"What was that?!" I asked.

"What was what?" he asked trying to be innocent.

"Clint, why are you being so difficult?!" I exclaimed.

"Why are you keeping secrets!" He yelled back.

"Because I'm a spy! It's in my job description!" I said, exasperated.

"You lied about your mom, you lied about Pepper, what else are you lying to me about!" He shouted.

"Nothing!"

"Really? Or is that a lie too?" He glared at me.

I was 95% that everyone was listening through the other side of the door. I lowered my voice. "Clint, there's just somethings I can't tell you." A single tear fell down my cheek.

"Really? Because you better tell me now. I'm tired of living in the dark."

I bit my tongue to hold back my tears. He had never yelled at me like this before. "I... I can't Clint." I whispered.

"Why? Why on earth not?" He yelled, furious with me.

"Because.. Because they're keeping me alive." I said, my voice becoming scratchy and hoarse. _Please stop yelling at me, Clint!_

"Scarlette." He finally said after a few minutes of silence. "I realize that with our profession, we won't be able to tell each other everything. I nodded, my cheeks wet with tears. "But promise me, that you'll tell me everything that you can?" He said swiping away one of my tears with his thumb.

"I promise Clint." I said so only he could hear.

He cupped my face with his hand. "I'm so sorry I yelled at you, I'm just so worried that something would keep us apart."

"Nothing could ever keep us apart." I whispered, smiling weakly. "Just ask our academies."

He laughed lightly, and leaned forward so that our noses were touching. Then the doors opened.

"Okay good. I was afraid you had murdered her or something. It got quiet." Natasha said.

Clint awkwardly backed away.

"No, go ahead. Minnie and I are friends now. I have no reason to turn you guys into Fury." She smirked.

"Then why are you..."

"You guys are better than The Young and the Restless. And much funnier too." Natasha interrupted him.

We just stared at her. Natasha was just really weird sometimes.

"Go on! What are you waiting for!" Natasha shouted "Kiss her!"

"May I?" He asked me, taking me by the waist and holding me close

"Be my guest." I smiled, and he kissed me.

"Bravo!" Natasha said clapping. "Someone should really write all this crap down. They'd really make a killing off of 'The mouse and the hawk' or something else really cheesy."

"Or they'd get killed." I said simply.

"By Fury." Clint said.

"For blowing our cover." I agreed.

"Well, until Fury killed them, their book would really popular." Natasha argued.

"I don't know." Clint said. "I'm going to have to agree with Nat on this one."

"Oh really?" I asked him.

"But they'd probably only read it because of the hunk of a main character." He winked.

"Oh shut up!" I teased.

"Guys!" Steve said, running in the room, and interring the conversation.

"What is it?" I asked

"We found him"


	27. Who I Am

**a/n: I am in extreme despair over the current situation in Connecticut. I assistant teach a kindergarden class, and it just kills me to think that it could've been my kids. I felt like I needed to give Scarlette a similar situation, in order to explain her character more. Scarlette was trained almost as heavily as Natasha, yet she still loves. I was troubling with this myself thinking, "Scarlette will never be as kick-butt as Nat as long as she still has Clint." but of course, I'm not going to kill off Clint. I just love him too much! ^_^ Enjoy! And pray for those children who lived. They must be so scared right now, and the most important thing we can do for the is pray. "Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep on praying" -Romans 12:12**

* * *

**Chapter 27:**

Once, while working in Japan, I was needed at an orphanage. There had been a massacre. Dead children were strewn across the ground. They needed me to find the killer.

I broke down. That was the first, and too this day only, mission I failed to complete. I kneeled next to bodies of children who had so much to live for and cried. I held them close, an couldn't keep my composure. I lost a part of me that day, the part of me that kept me from love.

They had to drag me out by force, I just wanted to shake those little children and tell them to wake up!

The nightmares still haunt me. Every now and then, I'll relive it through my dreams. Those nights I don't go back to bed. There's no way one can sleep, when every time you close your eyes, you're haunted by the images of a bloodied, innocent child in your arms.

This event, though catastrophic, it shaped me, it helped make me who I am. Without it, I probably would be very cold, very heartless, and downright mean. My training taught me to throw away all feelings. This event opened my heart to grief, remorse, sympathy, and love. Although I really hate that this had to happen, every cloud has a silver lining, and I needed the catastrophe to open my heart.

Hopefully one day, this will all be over. Evil will cease, or at least die down to where innocent children aren't being killed when they had so much to live for. Many of you may think the reason I joined SHIELD was for Clint. To tell you the truth, I had no clue he worked for them. I joined SHIELD because I wanted to help be a shield, to help those who were affected by such evil, and to be proactive about it.

Evil will never completely end, but I won't die peacefully until I know I've done something to help the evil done in at least one person's life.

It may be impossible to change the whole world, but it's not impossible to change one person's world.

I may be an assassin, but more than anything I just want to help people. If I could have one crazy wish, I'd wish that no one would have to go to bed depressed, scared, or starving, and that the whole world would instead just embrace love.


	28. And So The Battle Begins

**a/n: -yawn- I haven't gotten much sleep since nutcracker dress rehearsals started -_- and nutcracker is over. Short chapter. Sorry. Review? 333 xD But guys... 35 FOLLOWERS! :O 333 I love you guys. :P Oh! And I bumped up the chapter total to 31! Yay! Well yay for you guys... that's more I have to write -_- Gah! At least NaNoWriMo is over... DECEMBER IS MY FAVORITE! xDD okay then... **

* * *

**Chapter 28:**

We all waited anxiously for Thor's return.

Bruce and I ran some tests, and found that Tony's suit now emitted some kind of toxic gas, similar to Carbon Monoxide, however if urgent care was given, chances of survival were greater.

"Lady Scarlette." A voice said wavering from behind me.

I turned to see Thor, who's hair, which was usually long, golden, and shiny, was now dusted in black soot along with his face.

"Tony does not wish to return with us." Thor gulped.

"Well then, I guess we'll have to convince him." I said.

* * *

"Thor, Captain and I are going down. Bruce, I'd like for you not to get angry just yet, do some sciencey research stuff. I'd like to bring EVERYONE home alive. Including Stark. Find out if there's a solution besides violence. Barton, I need eyes and ears."

"But Scarlette!" Clint protested

"Natasha, your job is to make sure he stays here." I said strictly.

"We won't leave." Natasha said shaking a stiff, rigid, angry, Clint by the shoulders.

"Thanks" I nodded

"Make sure you take these." Bruce said tossing Thor, Steve, and I some oxygen masks. "Be careful though, they're glass, and we don't have many extras."

* * *

Steve, Thor, and I crouched behind a bush and watches Tony, head toward the city.

"Captain, you be my barrier. Don't let Tony into the city. If we keep him in this field, the results will be less catastrophic." I whispered to him.

"Yes ma'am." He whispered back and snuck off.

"Thor, I'm going to go talk to him. Maybe seeing me will make him snap back into his old self. You keep watch." I said

"Yes, Lady Scarlette." He said

I walked to where Tony was flying, a few feet in the air.

"Tony!" I shouted.

"Huh?" His mechanical voice answered, dropping in front of me.

"Tony. What happened to you?" I asked sympathetically.

"Nothing "happened" to me." He sneered. "I simply became more powerful."

"Tony, this isn't you! I know the real you! You wouldn't dare injure the innocent, you secretly like twilight and cats, and the only people you trust are me and Pepper!"

"That was who I thought I was. This is who I really am."

"Tony, please, come back to SHIELD."

"Never." He said, shooting a pulse beam at me. I ducked and rolled toward him, kicking his feet, expecting him to fall to the ground. Instead it resulted in a sickening crunch as my ankle made contact with his solid, unbudging, iron suit.

He bent down and picked me up by my collar and flew up a few feet into the air.

"Tony!" I gasped, my collar was choking me. "Let me down!"

"Certainly."


	29. And So Our Battle Ends

**A/N: Hiya! Chapter 2 + 9 for ya! yay! I switch POV a lot this chapter, mainly because it's really hard to explain otherwise xD If things seem... repetitive... I wrote this over the course of... two weeks? So yeah. I might forget if I already used a phrase earlier or something. Sorry. :P Little minion monster things? Yeah. You're going to be like WTH is going on with Alyxus, yeah, I just couldn't think of anything else. Also, in addition to the sequel, (which I haven't exactly started) I'm writing a new Avengers (hopefully multi-chapter) fanfiction, which does in fact feature Scarlette. Maybe it will be the sequel because I'm super pumped for this thing! Thanks for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting! Special thanks to Audrey Whyte for literally reviewing every chapter! xD I can always count on getting an email the day I update from fanfiction with her reviews! The rest of you should be more like her, minions. Haha jk, love you all! :P **

* * *

**Chapter 29:**

**Clint's POV:**  
I grabbed a mask from Bruce, only a few minutes after Scarlette had left.

"Clint!" Natasha said "What are you doing?!"

"I'm going." I said

"Scarlette told you to stay!"

"She's going to get herself killed, Natasha. Last time she told me to stay and I listened, she almost died, got shipped to Japan, I was told she was dead, and I didn't see her until ten years later. I'm not letting that happen again." I said, then promptly left.

* * *

I found Scarlette shortly after I started looking. I pretty much only had to look for Tony. I ducked behind a bush next to Thor.

"Barton! Why have you disobeyed Lady Morgan's orders and left the ship?" Thor boomed.

"Shut up!" I whispered, covering his mouth with my hand. "If she hears you, we're both dead! If Tony hears you, we're ALL dead. Literally."

Thor nodded, and I removed my hand and watched Scarlette. She had just tried to kick Tony over, it seems that she snapped her ankle. Tony then proceeded to lift her off the ground.

"Tony! Let me down!" Scarlette pleaded.

"Certainly." Tony said, dropping her, causing Scarlette to quickly plummet to the ground, possibly to her death.

"Thor!" I shouted. "You take care of Tony!" I said running off to where Scarlette laid.

"Scarlette!" I said as I reached her. She seemed to not have suffered any serious injuries such as broken bones, other than her ankle of course, but her mask had broken. The shattered glass left a few cuts on her face, but the real issue lay with that she was now breathing poisonous gas.

"Scarlette!" I said again.

She slowly opened her eyes. "Clint? What the heck are you doing?"

"I got nervous. Turns out I had a right to be."

"Clint..." She smiled and looked up at me. "Be careful."

"I know, I know, you had your reasons.."

"No, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the future." She said with a few coughs.

"Scarlette. No." I said, taking off my mask, and putting it on her.

"Clint, I can't let you do this." She said taking it off, and weakly pushing it towards me.

"Well then we'll both die." I said simply, taking her in my arms and kissing her head.

"Clint" she coughed "they need you though."

"Shh." I said, stroking her hair.

"I love you, Clint." She said, coughing more intensely now.

"I love you too." I said, kissing her head one more time, as she slipped into unconsciousness. I quickly strapped my mask back on her face before I let the darkness take me too.

* * *

**Scarlette's POV:**  
I realized I was alive when the searing pain in my ankle brought me back down to earth. Clint's lifeless arm was draped around my shoulder. He must've put his mask on me after I blacked out.

Gunshots from where Tony was trying to take down Captain America snapped me back into reality.

Clint had saved me. Tony is currently trying to kill everyone. I need to get Clint oxygen, and fast.

I quickly took out my necklace, which luckily hadn't been broken.

"Nat." I said. "I need you. Now. And bring me an extra mask. Hurry."

"Gotcha, Mousey" I heard shortly.

I drug Clint behind some bushes and sat there waiting for Natasha.

"Clint, why did you do this, you idiot?!" I asked him, even though I knew he wouldn't answer.

Natasha finally made it over where I was and handed me the mask, which I promptly put on Clint, hoping it would still help.

"What happened?" Natasha asked.

"Long story short, my mask broke, Clint wanted to be a knight." I said, still kneeled next to Clint's body, watching for any signs of life.

Clint began coughing and gasping for air, then finally opened his eyes.

"My God, Clint!" I squealed and hugged him.

"I knew you could do it Scar." he smiled.

"Greeting card much?" I said simply, helping him get up. "Come on, they need our help."

"Already?" He whined.

"Sorry you almost died, but we do have a job to do." Natasha said, completely serious.

"Well then, I suggest we do it." Clint said nodding

* * *

We must have been fighting Tony for hours now, and everyone was starting to get tired.

Apparently, Tony developed the power to shoot rocks and other debris and turn them into little monster minion things. They weren't dangerous or anything, there were just so many. Nat, Clint and I were in charge of those, while Thor and Hulk (yeah... We ended up having to call him in. He was getting anxious anyway) tried to hold Tony off while Steve evacuated the city (secretly searching for Pepper as well.)

Once at the point of pure exhaustion, I decided to go with Plan B.

"Thor!" I shouted over the noise, while kicking one of Tony's minion monsters that had latched itself onto my foot.

"Yes Lady Scarlete?" He yelled.

"Plan B." I simply said, well, shouted of course.

"I'm afraid the consequences would be terribly disastrous to him, and everyone surrounding." He said from behind me.

"If we wait any longer, he may start injuring civilians!" I yelled back it him.

"Yes, Lady Scarlette." He said nodding, as I turned to face him.

"Scarlette, what's going on?" Clint asked distressed.

"Clint, brace yourself." I said, quickly turning before Thor smashed his hammer into Tony's arc reactor.

* * *

**Clint's POV:**  
Scarlette looked up at me, her eyes were filled with worry.

The impact from Thor's hammer against Tony's arc reactor created an electrical surge, which knocked everyone within 20 feet over. Scarlette, trying to run, tripped, fell, and slid, causing her to break her oxygen mask, and scrape up the entire left side of her face, on which she fell and slid on a rough patch of rock. The left side of her face was raw, and bleeding heavily.

"Scarlette!" I said, picking myself up, and running to her side. "Are you okay?" I said worriedly.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. For now." She said sitting up.

"What do you mean for now?" I asked her, sitting down next to her.

"This really is the end for us, Clint." She said, tears forming in her only eye that wasn't swelled shut.

"No. No it's not." I said taking her in my arms. "I haven't made you my wife."

She chuckled quietly.

"I'm serious!" I said nudging her.

"Clint, your mask is broken, my mask is broken, we have no contact to the ship. We're going to die." She said seriously.

"Scarlette." I sighed. "We had a good run." I smiled.

"We sure did" She said, leaning the right side of he head on my shoulder.

We sat there for a moment, neither of us knowing what exactly to say when you know you're about to die.

"Is my face really as bad as it hurts?" She asked casually.

"It's pretty bad." I teased.

* * *

**Scarlette's POV:**  
We sat there in silence a few more seconds, until we were both coughing violently, signaling the end was near.

"Goodbye Clint." I said.

"Goodbye Scarlette." He said, taking my head in his hands and kissing me one last time.

He laid down in the ground, struggling to keep his eyes open.

"I love you Scarlette." He said, falling into unconsciousness.

"Clint.." I cried. "I love you too."

I laid down next to him, with my head on his chest, crying until the darkness finally took me away too.


	30. Still Breathing

**A/N: I'm so terribly sorry that it took this long to update, but what can I say? It did. Chapter 31 in the works... Chapter one of sequel finished, chapter two of sequel in the works. ALSO, follow me on tumblr if you love me :P jesusfreakkitty **

* * *

**Chapter 30:**

I slowly open my eyes.

"Where the heck am I?" I say quietly. Heaven looks a lot like... The hospital ward on the helicarrier.

I wiggle my toes, then role my ankles, causing the ripping pain to return in my right one.

"Good job Smart One." I muttered sarcastically.

I turn my head to my right and see that I have company.

There's another hospital bed, with someone inside. I squint my eyes, someone must have taken out my contacts. Without them, I'm pretty much blind.

I studied the person in the bed for a while, struggling to make out a face.

"Clint!" I gasped

"He's in a lot better shape than you are."

I turned my head to see Fury standing in the doorway.

"What happened? Why are we alive?" I asked.

"Somehow Natasha made it out fine, she found you guys, and with the help of Bruce, dragged you guys back to the ship." he said.

"Seriously?!" I asked joyfully.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" He said sternly.

"I can't really see anything right now." I said, smirking.

He nodded.

"How's everyone else? What happened to Tony!" I said eagerly

"You and Clint were hurt the worst. Natasha and Steve were far enough away that the sure didn't affect them, Bruce, well, the Hulk took the blow for him, and he got away without a Scratch, Thor... Um, died, but he's immortal so he's as good as new." Fury said avoiding the obvious.

"What. Happened. To. Tony." I said sternly.

"Tony... He's in a coma, we aren't sure how long it will take for him to wake up, if he ever does."

I closed my eyes and shook my head. This was mostly my fault. I probably could've stopped most of this if I paid more attention to Tony, like I should have.

"We do think that Pepper's presence is speeding up his progress, however." Fury said after a few moments of silence.

"You found her?!" I exclaimed

"Everything is taken care of, Miss Morgan."

"That's great!" I said.

Fury nodded and started to leave.

"Fury, wait." I said

"Yes, Miss Morgan?" he asked.

"How's Clint?"

"He's doing great. He'll wake up any day now." He said kindly

"Were we in a coma?" I asked

"Just resting" Fury said nodding, and shutting the door behind him.

I turned my head to look at Clint.

"We're safe, Love." I told him. "Everything's okay now."

Then I laid back down and let the pain meds take over, lulling me into a drug-induced sleep.


	31. Curtain Call

**A/N: I can't believe it's really here! The last chapter! I want got say THANK YOU so very much for being there for me! All of you! Especially Mushy, and Rhiannon. You two are what kept me writing when as wanted to give up. And what better day to end the series, but on my Love's birthday! Happy Birthday Jeremy Renner, you! xD ;P Also, even though I wish I could claim it, the quote "You aren't you have done, or what you will do, or what you intend to be doing. You are what what you are doing." Belongs to the ultra-amazing super-fabulous mindgeeky Tessa Violet! Aka Meekakitty. If you need advice, a pick-me-up, a good laugh, or your jaw dropped with amazing breathtaking-ness go watch her videos on YouTube. Trust me. You won't regret it. Signing off for the last time, I love you guys bunches, A.**

* * *

**Chapter 31:**

Clint and I sat together in the cafeteria, trying to avoid the obvious.

"Have you been to see Tony lately?" I said casually.

Tony had recently woken up from his coma, but was suffering from the guilt of hurting everyone.

"Uh, no. Not really." He said quietly. Ever sense Tony hurt me, he had a hard time trusting Tony again.

"You haven't gone to see him at all have you?" I said, making sure he knew that it bothered me.

"Scar, he almost killed you." He protested.

"You almost killed Coulson, Clint! He wasn't himself! You of all people, Clint should understand that! He's feeling the same guilt you were when you found out what Loki had made you do, and we need to be there for him." I said, pleadingly.

"Don't bring up Coulson." Clint said sulkingly, looking away.

"Clint, I need you to look at me." I said, taking my hand and turning him to face me, keeping my hand on the side of his face.

He looked at me, his eyes full of guilt and sadness.

"Clint, no one blames you for that, but everyone's blaming Tony. I know how much it hurts you, and Tony knows too, but no one's reassuring him that it wasn't his fault." I said, locking eyes with him. "He needs us." I said kissing him slowly, before backing away just a few inches. "And I need you to believe me."

"Okay." He said weakly.

"Come on." I said smiling, picking up my crutches and walking to Tony's hospital room.

I grabbed Clint's hand before knocking on the door.

"Come in." Pepper's voice called from inside the room.

Clint squeezed my hand tighter.

I slowly opened the door, and we walked over to where Tony lay, Clint keeping a steady death grip on my hand.

"Hey Tony." I said smiling.

Tony waved back.

"Hey." Clint said quietly, and Tony nodded in acknowledgment.

"I'll leave you three alone." Pepper said, getting up from where she sat next to Tony.

"Thanks" I said, taking her seat.

"I did that." Tony said sadly, gently taking a finger and touching the left side of my face, where there were many scabs, bandages, and stitches, causing Clint to noticeably tense up.

"Tony, you weren't yourself." I reassured him.

"I still did it." He said. "Didn't I?"

I bit my lip, not knowing how to answer.

"Did I or did I not!?" Tony shouted.

"Yes, Tony, you did." Clint said calmly. "But it wasn't YOU. It may have been your body, but Scarlette, and Pepper, and I, and anyone else who really knows you, know that Tony Stark would never hurt the people he loves. They're too precious, and too fragile, and he can't bear to lose them." Clint paused, and I sware that is the sweetest thing Clint has ever said to anyone.

"Clint," I said with a feeling mixed of joy, happiness, and utter shock.

Clint interrupted me and continued. "Tony, you aren't what you have done, or what you will do, or what you intend to be doing. You are what you are doing. And anything other than that, is lies."

"Clint, that's really sweet." I smiled.

"Thanks." Tony said.

Clint nodded.

"Tony, everything is going to be fine. My face is going to heal, and so is my ankle. Broken bones are just temporary, we just want to know how YOU are. Are you okay?" I asked

"I'm fine." He said

"She didn't ask for the G rated bull-crap you tell the doctors. How do you REALLY feel." Clint said harshly.

Tony sighed. "Absolutely terrible."

"Are you in pain?" I asked him.

"Only here." he said pointing to his head. "In my mind."

"Penny for your thoughts." I said

"What's a penny?" Tony said jokingly.

I smiled, no one really felt like laughing right now. "But seriously?" I asked him.

"Guilt. Guilt. Pepper looks hot right now. Guilt. I'm going to get kicked out. Guilt. No one trusts me. Guilt. And, when's the wedding? Oh, and did I mention guilt." Tony said

"What wedding?" I asked, confused.

"Tony... How did you find out?" Clint said under his breath.

"Well, it was meant to be a joke, but I think I've struck gold." Tony said cracking a smile.

"What's going on?" I asked suspiciously.

"I was going to wait until later, but I guess I'll do it now." Clint said, getting down from the Chair, and kneeling in front of me.

"Scarlette Anne Morgan, would you be my wife?"

I couldn't say anything. I was legitamately speechless.

Tony chuckled quietly.

I closed my eyes and sighed. "Clint, I love you, but... No."

"Why not?" Clint said, hurt.

"I don't think it's the best time for that right now." I said awkwardly. "I love you Clint. I really do, but look at us." we were both very... Beat up looking.

"I mean, we don't have to get married right away." He said.

"Give me some time okay?" I said smiling. "Think about it this way, I'm not saying no, I'm just not saying yes yet."

"Sure." Clint said quietly, getting up from the floor, and sitting next to me again.

"Clint?" I asked him, taking his hand in mine.

"Yeah?" He said turning to face me.

"I still love you." I said squeezing his hand.

"I know." he said, smiling weakly. "I've got to go... Do something for Fury"

"Clint..." I said suspiciously.

"See you, Love." Clint said awkwardly, kissing me on the cheek.

"See you, Love." I said quietly.

"I think you made the right decision Scar-casm." Tony said.

I sighed. "I just hope he understands that."

"He does." Tony said smirking. "Clint Barton just doesn't like being rejected."

I laughed. "Trust me, I know"

Tony chuckled and we both kind of sat there for a moment.

"I uh... Forgot something I needed to do." I said awkwardly, then standing up to leave.

"Uh huh. Sure." Tony said. "Go get him, Tiger."

I ignored Tony's comment and ran down the hall as fast as one shattered ankle and a crutch could carry me.

"Clint!" I yelled to him, as he was meandering slowly down the hall.

He looked over his shoulder and smiled.

When I finally made it to him I was out of breath.

"To heck with it." I said, taking his head in my hands and kissing him like there's no tomorrow. I slowly moved my mouth away from him. "I love you, Clint." I said, breathless. "I really, really do."

"Is that a yes?" He asked smirking.

"You tell me." I said, kissing him again, cutting him off before he could answer.

THE END ;)


	32. THANK YOU

**Hello everyone! I'd like to thank you a thousand times over for your continued support of my first (committed) fanfiction.**

**I'd like to give special thanks to Mushroomking98. **

**She's one of my best friends and I doubt this story would've been finished without her.**

**I'd also like to give thanks to Rhiannon Pryce. **

**She's the best. Simply the best. Without her, I probably would've quit on the eighth chapter. She's been supportive of me through everything, not just this fic, and she just needs thanking.**

**I'd also like to thank Audrey White, for being a die-hard Renner-lover, and reviewing basically every single chapter. **

**And most of all, thank YOU. My amazing followers.**

**Aegipenguin2, Thank you.**

**Alethea 13, Thank you.**

**Alex Ladona, Thank you.**

**Alive Through Writing, Thank you.**

**Always and a day Love, Thank you.**

**AviatorDisguise137, Thank you. (I have a similar disguise. ;) )**

**B The Shadow Ninja Samurai, Thank you. (No word on your name, hun, no words.)**

**Bella Diggory Cullen, Thank you.**

**BethanyLeeRenner, Thank you. (Your pen name is familiar... ;P)**

**Bruce's Bat Cave, Thank you.**

**Heathachannel, Thank you.**

**Helloimixs, Thank you.**

**ILoveAnime89, Thank you.**

**JJCME, Thank you.**

**JitterJitter, Thank you. (You might want to lay off the coffee, hun.)**

**Lady-Kiki-Theevilmastermind, Thank you. (Again, no words.)**

**LadyJoker97, Thank you.**

**LittleMissPeetaMellark, Thank you.**

**LunaPrime116, Thank You.**

**MrsJoshShannon, Thank You.**

**Mrs Queen 94, Thank you.**

**Nercal, Thank you.**

**RainbowShelby, Thank you.**

**Rebecca13787, Thank you.**

**Sammyjo2694, Thank you. (You reviewed a lot, and I appreciate that.)**

**SerenityAngels, Thank you.**

**Sirius-Black-Sfan, Thank you.**

**TheMostRandomOfRandomWriters , Thank you. (CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!)**

**WardenElissa, Thank you.**

**Zora and Phoenix, Thank you. (Both)**

**books22, Thank you.**

**cp6, Thank you. (You reviewed a lot as well. Thank you.)**

**dark angel vs light angel, Thank you. (Let me know how that turns out. A friend and I went as dark angels and light angels for halloween when we were in secondary school :D)**

**fibita, Thank you. (You reviewed a lot too! Thanks!)**

**mellbell12123, Thank you. **

**octoberbaby91, Thank you. (As in the movie? Cried my heart out.)**

**princessyuki08, Thank you. (I only got through the first vampire night book. I just don't have enough money to buy the rest so...)**

** 197, Thank you.**

**smiles811998, Thank you. (Did I get those numbers right? Signing in must be a chore. You reviewed a lot too! Thanks!)**

**totallyawesomehufflepuff, Thank you. (HUFFLEPUFFS FOR THE WIN! WE'RE NEXT TO THE KITCHEN!)**

**Also! Please check out Venom, the sequel, up now! And stay tuned for a fic I'm co-authoring with Mushroomking97 so be watching HER page for that, and also I'm writing a companion piece... you know what, Just read everything on my and Mushroomking97's pages. Yeah? Okay. Good deal.**

**GOODBYE MY LOVES THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH AGAIN!**

**-Kitty Lee Renner**


End file.
